


Open Up Your Heart To Me

by dinosaursmate



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, M/M, Secret Relationship, Smut, Student Harry, Teacher Louis Tomlinson, Teacher-Student Relationship, You could probably say that Harry has some boundary issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-15
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:18:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22270393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dinosaursmate/pseuds/dinosaursmate
Summary: Harry Styles has just finished his A Levels, and is already sick to death of studying law. Opting for a change of career prospects, he enrols in an Animal Management course at a college, where teachers are mates with students and prefer being called by their first names. Out of all Harry's teachers, his favourite is Mr. Tomlinson.
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson
Comments: 18
Kudos: 251
Collections: 1D Niche Fic Fest





	Open Up Your Heart To Me

It was probably too early on in life to change career direction but, for Harry Styles, it was necessary. He had powered on through his A Levels, but he wasn’t the person he had been at sixteen anymore. His dreams of working in law had been big but, after two years studying it, he was sick to the back teeth of it.

Sure, it was a good A Level to have, and along with sociology and business, it made for an impressive CV for an eighteen year old. But Harry knew, deep down, he wanted to do something different. 

“You nervous, darling?” Anne asked as she handed him a packed lunch.

“Mum, are you  _ serious?” _ Harry chuckled, embarrassed. “You know there’s a cafe at college.”

“Why pay for food when I’m willing to give it to you for free?”

Harry rolled his eyes and snatched the bag from her with a smile.

“Okay. Thanks.” He looked at the clock on the living room wall. “Right, I’m gonna miss my bus.”

“Text me!” Anne called after him as he headed to the door.

-

It was a half an hour bus ride which was a lifetime for Harry, who had had a ten minute walk to school for seven years. Still, he had his iPod and a book, so he settled into a window seat and the time passed fairly quickly.

He had been to the open day, and he had been to a week’s taster course over the summer, so when he got to the college, he knew where to go. He picked up his ID card from reception and swiped through the barriers, heading out and round to the standalone classroom behind the cafe. 

Looking around at his fellow students, he recognised some faces from the summer course. At the head of the classroom, he recognised Lindsay and Peter, the two teachers that he had met so far. People were chatting away, but Harry squeezed past everyone and found himself a seat in the second row. He got out a notebook and a pen, and patiently waited for everybody to settle down and the teachers to command attention.

Sixth form had been different to secondary school, but college was even more different. Calling teachers by their first names. Being treated as a fellow adult instead of a teenager. No bells ringing out in the halls to signify lunchtime.

Studying Animal Management was going to be different. Not only were all Harry’s lessons going to be focused on something completely new to him, he would also have practical lessons, which he was looking forward to getting stuck in with. He had, of course, met some of the college’s animals when he was here for the summer. He wasn’t scared of any of the animals they had, although the legend of Walker the goat had unnerved him somewhat.

Lindsay called the room to attention and reeled off a lot of information that Harry struggled to keep up with. He was scribbling incoherently in his notebook, until his wrist got tired and he just hoped he would get the chance to learn the info again at a later date.

“So, anybody studying a level three BTEC, please get up and follow Louis to his classroom.”

About a third of the students got up and shuffled towards the door. Harry kept his eyes firmly on the back of Louis’ head, following him out of the classroom, and back into the reception area. Against the far wall was a door, which led to more classrooms. Louis led Harry and the others into the third one on the left.

“Hi, everyone! My name’s Louis Tomlinson, and this is my classroom. I’ll be your animal behaviour teacher. Everybody, grab a seat.”

Harry took a seat in the front row by the far wall. There was a workbook on the desk, and he absently flicked through it as everybody else took their seats. Louis chatted to a student he seemed to recognise, and Harry put the workbook down.

Louis had to be something like mid-twenties, and he seemed so  _ comfortable _ in his own skin. People told Harry that would come with age, but Harry reckoned it must be easy when you’re good-looking and so very well proportioned. It wasn’t that Harry wasn’t confident at all, but he had always admired men with nice cheekbones and a pert bum.

He was still working on distinguishing the difference between being attracted to a man and wanting to look like him.

The student talking to Louis took a seat and Louis cleared his throat. He commanded the attention of the room easily, before going into a speech about the animal behaviour module and its importance. As the minutes passed, Harry was certain it was attraction that he felt towards Louis. He was so expressive, gesturing with his hands and cycling through a thousand facial expressions a minute. He had long eyelashes that fell prettily against his cheeks as he looked down, and Harry knew he had found a distraction before his classes had even started.

-

Proper lessons started on Tuesday and, for Harry, that kicked off with nutrition.

God. What a boring lesson that turned out to be. By the end of the  _ two hour _ lesson, Harry didn’t want to ever see or hear the world  _ alfalfa _ again in his life. 

It was going well so far, clearly.

Pet store management was next, which Harry had no interest in but it seemed a bit more interesting than some of the other electives. Anyway, he supposed it could apply to any shop management, so it was a good skill to have. Maybe.

Lunch was his favourite period of the day. He ate the lunch his mum had packed for him (again), but also bought a portion of chips. The fatty, salty addition really hit the spot, and he wandered off to his afternoon lesson chomping on an apple.

He settled down in the same seat of Louis’ classroom he had sat in yesterday. He was the first one there, and Louis looked up from his desk and smiled.

“Hi. You’re eager.”

“Actually, I’m Harry.” Harry waved as Louis let out a pathetic laugh. “Sorry, dad jokes are kind of my thing. I actually left myself time to get lost on the way here, but it was kind of easy to find.”

“Ah! Smart. You’ll need to do that tomorrow for your practical day. The animal units are tucked away all over the place. I’d advise a map.”

“I think we’re at the stables tomorrow?”

Louis snorted. “Yeah, seriously. You’ll need a map.”

“So, um…” Harry twirled a curl around his finger and smiled at Louis. How early  _ was _ he? Where was everybody? “Do you just teach animal behaviour?”

“I teach some bits on the foundation courses as well, but you’ll probably see me lending a hand here and there in other classes, too, and the practical lessons. If you elect to take exotics next year, I teach that, too.”

“Wow, exotics?” Harry tilted his head. “Like, snakes and spiders and stuff?”

“Yeah,” Louis said with a laugh as other students started to filter in.

Harry wasn’t all that sure exactly what he wanted to do, what career he was hoping to get out of this course, but it probably wouldn’t be anything to do with exotic animals. Louis smiled at him, before heading behind his desk to start the lesson.

Animal behaviour was a fairly interesting class, and Harry thought it was a shame that he didn’t have a teacher as good looking as Louis for one of his more boring lessons. Still, his remarkable ability to listen to Louis made him good at the class.

“Well done, Harry,” Louis said as the class ended.

“Thanks, sir.”

Louis pushed a laugh out through his nose.  _ “Louis. _ Call me Louis.”

“Sorry,” Harry said sheepishly. “Habit.”

-

At the weekend, Harry finished his homework and lay back on his bed to ponder his first week. He had made a friend: Liam, whose dream was to be a horse dentist. He was beginning to learn how to find his way around the grounds, although Louis’ tip of taking a map for his practical days would still come in handy. Overall, he was enjoying it. 

When he was back in on Monday morning, he spotted a McDonald’s across the dual carriageway near his bus stop. Well, that was interesting information. There would be plenty of time to head there on his lunch breaks and, if it wasn’t for the fact that his mum had made his favourite salad for him today, he would be planning on a Big Mac this very lunchtime.

He would settle for his salad, although there was no fridge for the students to use so he made do with his insulated lunch bag. He considered it a good excuse to get his mum to stop making him lunch, actually. As he swiped in with his ID card, Harry pulled his phone out to check his messages, and quite literally bumped straight into Louis.

“Woah!” Louis said with a laugh. “Careful, lad.”

“Sorry.”

“Eyes on the world, Harry,” he teased. 

“Sorry, got distracted thinking about the behaviour of animals.”

Louis grinned, pressing his lips together, eyes half-closing in amusement. Harry smiled. Making Louis smile like that felt great.

“Don’t be cheeky,” Louis told him, and a thrill shot through Harry. “See you this afternoon.”

Harry was looking forward to it. He had nutrition - why was that class always first thing in the morning - followed by wildlife rehabilitation before lunch. He sat next to Liam, who dutifully noted down almost every single word their teacher said. The lesson finished a little early, which meant that they had a slightly longer lunch break. Winning.

“Liam?” Harry asked as they packed their things up. “You said you were here last year, yeah? You did the foundation course?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you make of Louis Tomlinson?”

Liam raised his eyebrows and pouted his lips in thought. “Yeah. He’s a good teacher. He only started last year, he’s newly qualified. Yeah, it’s nice to have someone young about. Some of the others are a bit old, right?”

“Yeah,” Harry said with a laugh. “How old  _ is _ he?”

Liam shrugged as he walked them towards the cafe. “Twenty-five? Dunno.”

They arrived at the cafe, and Harry found them a seat while Liam went to get food. He was pretty quick, and he sat down just as the cafe got busy.

“Thank God for early finishes,” he said with a sigh, sitting opposite Harry and rubbing his hands as he gazed at his pasta. “The spag bol here is amazing.”

“Hey, did you know there’s a  _ McDonald’s _ over the road?” Harry widened his eyes and nodded slowly. “Dangerous.”

“I don’t eat that stuff,” Liam said flatly, twirling an insane amount of spaghetti onto his fork. “I’m on a regime.”

“The pasta diet?”

Liam didn’t look up at him, instead lifting his left arm and flexing his bicep as he shoved spaghetti into his mouth. 

“That,” Liam said, mouth full. “Is what a strict regime gets me.”

“Alright, show off.” Harry glared at him as he picked his fork out of his lunch bag and wiped it on his t-shirt. “I’ve been thinking of going back to the gym. When do you have time?”

“I go before and after college every day,” Liam said with a shrug, as if to say  _ isn’t it obvious? _

Harry rolled his eyes. “Yeah, maybe I’ll just… go after college. Two or three times a week.”

“That’s good, man!” Liam said, smiling, sauce on his chin. “I have to admit, I’m a bit addicted to the gym.”

Harry grinned at Liam as he scratched his chin and frowned, before grabbing a napkin to wipe it. Harry looked up to see Louis walking into the cafe, that easy smile that he always wore on his face. He looked over at Harry, who nearly looked away but forced himself to keep eye contact.

“Hiya,” Louis said as he walked past their table. 

“Hi,” Harry said, beaming. Liam just grunted.

Harry watched as Louis grabbed a packaged sandwich, paid, and then made his way back towards them. He slowed as he approached, stopping next to them. Harry grinned up at him.

“Liam,” he said, and Harry’s face fell. “How’s Deidre?”

“She’s good!” Liam nodded enthusiastically as he wiped his mouth. “Recovering really well, thanks.”

Louis smiled, pleased, before looking down at Harry. His expression gave Harry the distinct impression that he knew full well that Harry was staring at him, and that he downright enjoyed it.

“Deidre’s his horse. Not, like, his nan or something.”

“Oh, right,” Harry said, laughing. “Hey, did you know Liam wants to be a horse dentist?”

“Equine dental technician,” Liam corrected. “It’s- it’s not the same thing.”

Harry shrugged as Louis laughed.

“Yeah,” Louis replied. “If you ever can’t find him, he’ll be out at the stables.”

“True,” Liam agreed, laughing.

Harry tried not to pout as Louis said his goodbyes and walked away. Liam turned his attention back to his spaghetti. Maybe by next year, Harry would have that kind of relationship with Louis, more of a friendly thing than a teacher/student thing. 

“An equine dental technician isn’t quite a dentist,” Liam started to explain. “Any major work needs to be carried out by a proper vet. I won’t be a vet.”

“Oh,” Harry said, disinterested.

-

The next week, Harry joined the gym. He vowed to go on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays and so far, he was doing okay with that. He didn’t beat himself up if he missed a day. With Wednesdays being practical days when he was mostly mucking out or, in his personal case, chasing ferrets around that had broken free of their harnesses, he was sure dropping a day of the gym wouldn’t hinder his progress much. 

The week before half term, he finally planned a trip to McDonald’s. He thought about it all morning, and when his lunch break finally came he practically skipped towards the front gates. It was autumn, which was his favourite season. The college not only ran animal care courses, but also horticulture and floristry courses so the grounds were always beautiful, but there was something about the leaves littering the ground that Harry just found so enchanting. 

“Where are you off to, then?”

Harry turned around as he walked through the car park. Louis slammed the boot of his car and grinned at Harry.

“You don’t look ill,” Louis continued with a teasing tone. “You trying to skip out on my class? You’ve got me after lunch.”

“I’m just going to McDonald’s,” Harry told him. “I’ve been looking forward to it all day, all week in fact. So don’t try and take it away from me.”

“Ugh, McDonald’s!” Louis slapped his palm to his forehead comically. “My kingdom for a Chicken Legend meal! With a Dairy Milk McFlurry.”

“What’s an animal behaviourist doing quoting Shakespeare?” Harry said, folding his arms and walking over to Louis, who was leaning on the boot of his car. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Louis pretended to be offended. “Anyway, I teach animal behaviour, I am not an animal behaviourist.”

“Whatever.” Harry turned around and made to walk away, before throwing Louis a look over his shoulder. “Wanna tag along?”

“Ah… I shouldn’t. I have a very boring sandwich in my desk drawer.”

“Chicken Legend…” Harry mocked in a sing-song voice.

“Oh, fine!” Louis sighed.

Harry folded his arms and smiled smugly. “Well,  _ you’re  _ easy.”

Louis let a secret smirk cross his face before smiling sweetly and turning to Harry.

“How are you finding the course so far, then?”

“Yeah, it’s interesting. Different.”

“You told me you took A Levels, right?” Louis asked.

Harry nodded. “Yeah. Um, law, sociology, business. I dunno, maybe after this I’ll be ready to take law on again, but studying it for two years made me so sick of it.”

“That’s a shame. Well, you might be able to find something you like doing with the combination of your A Levels and your BTEC. I mean, if you wanted to start up an animal related business, you’d be set.”

“Like what?”

“A pet shop? Training school? Kennels?” Louis shrugged. “I could go on. Lots of options for you.”

Harry hadn’t thought of that. He had always dreamed of winning the lottery and opening a huge dog shelter. That probably wasn’t going to happen, but it was something to think about.

“Yeah,” he replied thoughtfully.

“So, you made friends with Liam?” Louis asked. “He’s a nice guy. He works really hard.”

“Yeah, he seems very focused. I can’t imagine being so sure of what you want to do for a living. Like, how does a person even just decide they want to be a horse dentist?”

Louis laughed and shrugged. “Well, he’s a farm boy. He’s been around horses his whole life. Some people just know, I guess.”

“This stuff comes naturally to him.”

“It does. He’s really a big help to have around on practical days.” Louis paused and laughed. “He struggles in the small animal unit, though. And exotics. Not his forte.”

“Oh,” Harry said, pretending to sigh with relief. “So he’s  _ not _ perfect. I cannot be friends with someone who’s perfect. He’ll make me look worse.”

“Ah,” Louis said as they turned onto the street beyond the college grounds. “Nobody’s perfect.”

“So I hear.” Harry pushed his hands into his pockets. “So, tell me about yourself, Louis.”

“Like what?” Louis asked. 

Harry shrugged. “Did you always want to be a teacher?”

Louis hummed out a noncommittal sound. “I flip-flopped between a lot of things, I think. Usual stuff. I dunno, I studied here and then everything kind of fell into place for me.”

Harry rolled his eyes skyward. That happened for a lot of people, but not for him. Oh, well. Maybe it was something to look forward to. Maybe, at some point, something on this course would stick and send him along his path.

“I am starving,” Louis said, seeming to sense Harry’s melancholy. They had reached the dual carriageway, and Louis pressed the button for the crossing. “Might get a cheeky cheeseburger on the side.”

They crossed the road via multiple crossings in silence, not speaking again until they arrived at McDonald’s and each took up residence at a self-service machine.

“So, what’s your favourite class so far?” Louis asked as he prodded the screen. 

“Yours, obviously.” Harry grinned at him. “It’s really interesting. I’m finding classes like nutrition a bit of a drag.”

Louis laughed. “Paul isn’t the most vivacious of teachers.”

“Louis!” Harry smirked. “That’s no way to talk about your colleagues.”

“I’m just saying what you were probably thinking.”

Once they had their food, they sat down at a table, and Harry watched in amusement as Louis unpacked his food in sheer joy.

“Aren’t you glad I convinced you to come?”

“I am. Thank you.”

Harry chewed his bottom lip. “When we finished our last GCSE exam, one of our teachers came to the pub with us.”

Louis just snorted as he bit into his burger.

“He got a right bollocking for it,” Harry added.

“I’m not bloody surprised! Imagine accompanying a bunch of sixteen-year-olds to the pub.”

Harry chuckled. “Some people were still fifteen!”

“Madness.” Louis shook his head. “Well, thank God we’re only at McDonald's.”

“Sure you won’t get in trouble?”

Louis flashed a smile. “Oh, no. It’s a lot more relaxed around here than it was in school, Harry.”

“Is that so?” Harry asked, smiling to himself. So, maybe he  _ could _ make a friend of Louis. “That’s good.”

“Bit of freedom, innit?” Louis asked around a mouthful of chips. “You’re adults, you’re old enough to be responsible for yourselves.”

“True.”

They ate fairly quickly, and Louis got a McFlurry to eat on the walk back. They got back onto the grounds just in time, and walked into Louis’ classroom together.

Harry took up his usual seat at the front of the class, smiling to himself.

-

Once he came back from half term, Harry was beginning to feel settled at college. The first week back, he had his practical day in the exotic animal unit for the first time and he watched as Louis talked the class through the proper way to hold and handle a gecko. Harry was more interested in the bearded dragon and, once his demonstration was over, Louis gave Harry a personal one.

“Beardies are really friendly,” Louis told him as he opened the tank. “They make great pets. I have one myself.”

“You do?”

“Yeah! She’s called Sandra.” Louis turned to look Harry in the eyes. “Now. the key thing is that you support all four of their legs, okay?”

Louis slid a hand under the bearded dragon’s front legs and upper body, lifting it slightly so that he could slide his other hand under its lower half. He held it in two hands, before shifting so that it was resting along the underside of his forearm.

“They love to be stroked so you can do so, just be gentle.” Louis ran his fingers softly over the bearded dragon’s back. “They’re pretty easy going, as long as they’re cared for properly.”

“Oh.” Harry reached out a finger to gently stroke it along its back. “Cool.”

“Do you want to hold him?”

Harry frowned. “Um, maybe another time.”

Louis laughed softly as he put the bearded dragon back into the tank. He carefully slid it closed, before pumping some hand sanitiser into his palm.

“I always had dogs growing up,” he explained. “When I moved out I just wanted something different. A head turner.”

Harry grinned at him, before turning around to watch one of his classmates handle a snake.

“Louis,” Harry said quietly. “No offence, but it stinks in here.”

“You get used to it,” Louis replied with a shrug. “It doesn’t smell any worse than the other units, it’s probably just because it’s an unfamiliar smell.”

Harry nodded in agreement. After all, the stockyard always smelt bad. 

“Hey,” Louis whispered in his ear, which sent a shiver through him. “Look at this.”

Louis walked him over to the other side of the unit, stopping in front of a murky looking tank. Harry peered closer, before recoiling.

“Urgh, are those-”

“Crickets!” Louis laughed. “A lot of the inhabitants of this unit eat them. They’re given a special diet so that they’re very nutritious.”

Harry felt sick. He hated creepy crawlies. To make it even worse, Harry looked at the floor to see one hopping by his feet. He squealed and ran out of the unit.

-

After a long, hot shower - he almost felt like they were  _ on _ him - Harry threw himself down on his bed and played absently on his phone. His mum and Robin were up in Cheshire for a few days, and he was starting to feel a bit lonely. As he closed Facebook and tried to decide what app to procrastinate with next, his thumb hovered over and clicked on Grindr.

Okay, so Harry wasn’t exactly a Grindr expert. He had only met two guys from there before, and that went okay. He had mostly tried other dating apps, like…  _ actual _ dating apps, but he kept Grindr around for days such as these, days when he was lonely and could do with a bit of no strings company. 

He was picky, and almost always had a reason to scroll past someone. Their picture was boring. Their picture was too sexy. The phrasing in their profile was weird. Harry sighed, about to close the app, when he spotted a photo and sat bolt upright.

It was Louis, looking positively beautiful, smiling and squinting in the sun with a bottle of beer in his hand. Harry clicked on Louis’ profile to browse, feeling slightly disappointed that Louis only had one other photo, and it wasn’t even a topless one. His heart jolted when he realised it said  _ Online,  _ as if Louis could see him looking at his profile. Harry felt a flash of panic, and quickly switched to his Facebook app, resisting the urge to search for Louis.

If he was a bit braver, he might have sent Louis a Tap, hit the little flame button to tell Louis he looked hot. But that was inappropriate, and they were getting along well. Harry didn’t want to scare him away.

Harry sighed. He didn’t feel like finding a hook up anymore, and decided to settle for his own company. He grabbed his laptop and opened his porn folder.

-

After they had been to McDonald’s together again, Harry couldn’t help but wonder if his infatuation was one sided. That was what it was, infatuation, and Harry found himself looking forward to coming to college, and always made sure he got to Louis’ class early. He had dawdled one day, and Rick was sitting in his usual seat. Front, in the corner near the window, directly opposite Louis’ desk. That was  _ always _ Harry’s seat.

“Everything alright?” Louis asked him when he hadn’t left the classroom with the rest of the students.

“Yeah, fine, sir.”

Louis scoffed and looked at Harry like he had two heads.

“How many times? It’s Louis.”

“But I like it,” Harry said with a smile.

Louis laughed, almost looking shy as he shook his head.

“Come on, don’t you have a lunch break to take?”

Harry sighed heavily as he stood up and shouldered his backpack.

“Well, my only friend, Liam, would rather spend lunch with the horses, so…”

“I am  _ not _ going to McDonald’s,” Louis warned. “Don’t even try and tempt me.”

Harry would have liked to tempt him with other things, but he smiled and walked towards the door.

“Not what I was insinuating. I’ve got sandwiches today, anyway.”

“Good, because I have work to do.” Louis tossed his pen onto his desk with a clatter. “Have you been working out?”

Harry practically preened, trying not to smile too widely.

“I have! Thanks for noticing.”

“You look broad,” Louis said. “Thought maybe Liam had got to you.”

“How dare you,” Harry said airily as he left the classroom.

-

A wintery chill was setting in as October drew to a close, and Harry started to wear coats and scarves and hats. It was altogether very cosy, which he loved, but having to roll out of bed at seven in the morning was never fun in winter. It was even less fun to work outside, and Harry’s week in the stockyard had rolled around.

“Go away,” he muttered to Walker the goat, who was standing nearby and gazing at Harry ominously with his rectangular pupils. “Leave me alone.”

Harry was trying his best to muck out the goats and sheep, but Walker wouldn’t leave him be. 

“No,” Harry told him as he stepped closer.  _ “Go away.” _

Walker responded by dropping his head and butting Harry’s wheelbarrow. It tipped on its side, spilling straw and poo back onto the ground.

“Walker,” Harry growled.

“Having trouble?” Liam walked over, amused, carrying a bucket of feed. “Walker’s a sweetie, really. He’s just testing ya.”

“Whatever the test is, I’ll happily fail.” 

Harry sighed as he leaned against the fence and watched Liam step in, lifting the bucket high above his head as they had been instructed. This goat really was a piece of work.

“Hey, can I ask you a question without sounding insensitive?” Harry asked Liam.

Liam paused and turned to him, before shrugging. “Sure.”

“Well, you’re a really nice guy - and good looking, which is enough for some people - I was just wondering how you’ve been here for a year, but you’ve got no other friends to hang out with apart from me.”

“Haha!” Liam laughed, his eyes crinkling until Harry could no longer see them. “My friends were on the foundation course, and none of them stuck around.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

“It’s cool.” Liam looked unbothered. “I mean, as you’ve seen, my friends are the horses, really.”

“Very true.”

Liam sighed and smiled at Harry as he climbed out of the goat enclosure.

“I can’t wait to work with horses full time.”

Harry got back to work as Liam retreated. Walker seemed content now that he was filling his belly, so Harry quickly picked up everything that he had tipped out and got out of there, heading towards the pigs. They were much friendlier.

-

“You don’t have to come. I’m eighteen.” Harry’s mouth twisted into a frown. “Parents aren’t required, this isn’t  _ school.” _

“Yes, but I would  _ like _ to come,” Anne replied. “Is that okay with you? I would like to hear about how you’re doing.”

“Mm,” Harry groaned.

“Well, I won’t come if it’s going to make you unpopular, or you’ll get teased.”

“No, it’s really not that kind of environment. You can come.”

In school, they had parent’s evening once a year and Harry would have to go table-to-table with his mum and sit while she and his teacher talked about him. It had been awkward. It was a novelty to see everyone’s parents and be at school in the evening, but there was always that fear that your teacher was going to slag you off to your mother.

Harry had kind of looked forward to this progress evening, to going in alone and having a chat with his teachers, adult to adult. Still, he didn’t really have anything to worry about.

When Harry’s last lesson finished, he didn’t really know what to do with himself. There was no point him going home, as he would only have to turn back around again. At least the good thing about his mum coming was that she would drive and he didn’t have to get the bus home.

Harry sat in reception, slouched in a chair and fiddling on his phone. He was bored. He pulled his bottle of water out, took a sip, and then stood up. Well, all the teachers still had to be here, so he headed down the corridor towards Louis’ room.

Sure enough, he was at his desk, brow furrowed as he hunched over a load of papers.

He knocked. Louis seemed rather surprised to see him, but gestured him inside anyway.

“Um, Mr. Tomlinson?”

Louis didn’t correct him this time, although he did give him a look.

“What’s up, Harry?”

“I’m waiting for my mum to come for progress evening. Do, um… do you need any help with anything? Or, can I, like… just sit in here? Reception’s really cold.”

“Oh, of course you can,” Louis replied warmly.

Harry sighed in relief. “Thanks, sir.”

Louis smirked and rolled his eyes. “Actually, you  _ could _ help me out. On that desk over there is a pile of printouts. There’s three different ones, do you think you could collate them for me? Like, make piles of one of each?”

“Sure.”

Harry sat down to stack the papers. He tried to concentrate, really he did, but he kept looking up to watch Louis. He was tapping away at a laptop and making notes in a notebook.

“What are you doing?” Harry asked.

Louis smiled warmly without looking away from his work.

“Making some notes for tonight. Just checking on people’s marks and stuff.”

Harry smiled sweetly, even though Louis wasn’t looking at him.

“Yeah? What are you gonna say about me?”

Louis looked up, then, smirking widely at him.

“I’m gonna slag  _ you _ off the most.”

Harry giggled, internally cringing at how childish he sounded. Louis threw him a dazzling smile, before turning back to his work. Harry continued with his paper organising, trying his best not to get distracted by Louis. 

-

“So,” Anne said as Harry led her through to the classrooms. “Should I prepare myself?”

“Mm, well. Mr. Tomlinson said he’s gonna slag me off.”

Anne cocked an eyebrow and Harry just laughed. Harry had to choose either Lindsay or Peter to book a session with for his practical progress review, and Paul or Louis for his academic review. He picked Lindsay, and, well. It was obvious who he was going to pick for the academic review.

He sat through Lindsay talking for fifteen minutes about the types of things they do during the practical lessons, telling Harry’s mum that he was making good progress and was a good listener. She mentioned that she saw him handling the bearded dragon with Louis, and he tried not to blush.

“Next is Mr. Tomlinson,” Harry told his mum. “He’s my animal behaviour teacher. He teaches exotics as well. He’s sometimes there for the practical sessions, too. He has a bearded dragon at home! Isn’t that cool?”

“Oh is he, um, Louis?”

“Yeah.” Harry cleared his throat. “Mr. Tomlinson.”

The student booked in before Harry came out of Louis’ classroom, smiling at Harry. Louis looked up and beamed, tilting his head to gesture him in.

“Hi. This is my mum.”

“Hello, Mr. Tomlinson, I’m Anne. Harry’s mother.”

“Call me Louis,” Louis quickly replied as they shook hands. 

Anne turned to look at Harry in slight confusion, and when she looked back at Louis, Harry threw him a big, toothy grin.

“Lovely to meet you,” Louis said to Anne, before throwing an amused look at Harry. “Why don’t you sit down?”

They sat down in front of Louis’ desk and Harry kept an amused smirk on his face as Louis spoke to his mother.

“Well, I’m very pleased with Harry’s progress. He has absolutely no problem with the written work and, in my own personal experience, he seems to be following the course extremely well.” Louis smiled at Harry. “So, yeah. I’m happy with his work. How are you finding it, Harry?”

“Yeah, good.” Harry cleared his throat. “Um… it’s very different to what I’m used to. I enjoy most of my classes and, yeah, it’s good to be hands on.”

“Great! Your marks are looking great and you’re on track to pass this year with a really good grade, although it’s too early to say for sure.”

“Thank you,” Harry said, smiling as sweetly as he could.

When they left Louis’ classroom, Anne linked her arm through Harry’s and walked them out.

“How about I take you out for a pizza for being such a good student?”

Harry beamed. Receiving praise from both his mother and Louis made for a pretty good day, in his opinion.

-

“It was funny!”

“Your poor mum looked mortified!” Louis shook his head, grinning. “You’re a menace. No one calls me Mr. Tomlinson. It freaks me out.”

Harry wore a pleased smirk as he shrugged. “Yeah, well. I like it.”

“Mm.” Louis shot him a look before stealing one of his chips. “You’re the boss.”

Harry rested his temple on his fist and cocked an eyebrow. “Oh. Am I really?”

Louis just looked at him, scratching absently at the stubble on his chin. He finally broke eye contact when he inhaled deeply, as if he was going to say something. He exhaled, words dying on his lips as he grabbed another of Harry’s chips.

“If you wanted chips, you should’ve got chips.” Harry narrowed his eyes, allowing Louis to take yet another chip anyway. “You  _ said _ you only wanted a burger today.”

“I don’t want my own, I just want yours.”

Harry laughed slightly, gazing into Louis’ eyes. Fuck, he was smitten. Louis was so gorgeous, and they got along like a house on fire. Not only that… maybe it was his imagination, but he could have sworn that Louis flirted with him.

“How’s the gym going?” Louis asked, eyeing Harry’s biceps where they were peeking out of his college polo.

There he went again. He seemed to take a great interest in Harry’s budding physique which, Harry had to admit, kept him on track. 

“It’s going great,” Harry replied innocently as he pulled up his right sleeve and flexed. “Can you see the difference?”

“Oh, for sure.”

When Louis looked up at him, Harry was beaming. Louis looked away quickly, and Harry felt a surge of triumph. That was  _ definitely _ a guilty look. 

“So,” Harry said, eager to fill the silence. “Got any Christmas plans?”

“Um, I suppose I’ll go home to Doncaster for the Christmas holidays. I have a big family, you know, and my birthday is Christmas Eve, so it’s quite the occasion.”

“Oh! How old will you be?” Harry asked. “Twenty-five?”

“Yeah... how did you know?”

Harry scrunched his nose to disguise his smile. Louis’ Grindr profile had helpfully informed Harry that Louis was twenty-four.

“Um, Liam told me how old you were.” Harry smiled again. “Because I was like, that Mr. Tomlinson does  _ not  _ look old enough to be a teacher.”

“Alright, arse kisser.”

Harry bit his tongue.

-

That night, Louis popped up on Harry’s Grindr again. 

Harry chewed his bottom lip as a surge of confidence washed over him. Louis had definitely been flirting with him, was definitely attracted to him. Of course, he wasn’t stupid enough to  _ actually _ try and hook up with him through the app. That would be ludicrous.

Instead, he hit the flame and sent him a Tap to tell him he was hot. Immediately, Harry closed the app and threw his phone to the other side of his bed. 

By the next morning Harry, thank God, had not received a response from Louis. He fought the urge to delete the app, feeling a little sheepish and embarrassed. He went in to college and, by the time he was headed to Louis’ class, his embarrassment had waned somewhat. When Louis saw him, he kept his eyes on Harry until Harry took his seat.

“Afternoon, Styles.”

“Hello, sir.”

The ghost of a smile crossed Louis’ face, but it was gone, and he started the class. Throughout the lesson, he kept locking eyes with Harry, and Harry felt a thrill every single time. When Louis had finished, the students shuffled out and, as usual, Harry stayed sitting in his seat.

“I’ve got the foundations coming in in five minutes,” Louis told him without looking up from the papers in front of him on his desk.

“Sorry,” Harry said sarcastically as he stood up. 

Louis looked up and raised his eyebrows, smiling. “Sorry. But until you pay for that chair and desk, other students will use it other than you.”

Harry blinked at him. He couldn’t decide whether he was relieved that Louis wasn’t going to mention the Grindr thing, or if he was disappointed. Either way, he was surprised, and felt a bit like it would hang over his head if Louis wasn’t going to bring it up.

Harry took a deep breath and walked over to Louis’ desk. He propped his bum on it, right next to Louis’ paperwork. Louis sighed, smiling as he looked up at him.

“You are such an attention seeker.”

“So, I like your Grindr profile.”

Louis looked back down at his paperwork, smiling as he shook his head.

“Get your arse off of the coursework.”

Harry stood up. Louis followed suit, standing before folding his arms.

“Look,” Louis said quietly. “This is my workplace, yeah? I’m not exactly in the closet, but I like to keep my private life separate from this part of my life. I hope you’ve not told anyone you saw me on there.”

“No,” Harry said, feeling a little affronted. “Of course not.”

“It never really occurred to me that students could see me on there.” Louis grimaced. 

“Well, you can’t put your sex life on hold just because you’re a teacher.”

Louis chuckled softly and tilted his head.

“Get out of my classroom.”

Harry took a deep breath and sighed, before smiling and turning on his heel to leave.

\---

As soon as the foundation class had settled to an exercise in their workbooks, Louis slipped his phone out of his pocket and opened Grindr. He didn’t have to scroll much until Harry popped up.

Louis sighed inwardly. Harry’s photo was a half body shot, casual and not provocative but sexy nonetheless, his thin white t-shirt clinging to his toned body and Louis frowned sadly as he hit the block button. He had to. He didn’t want to. But he had to.

Maybe he was playing with fire by befriending Harry. Okay, he definitely was, but being a young teacher who taught post-school age - some of the students were older than him - sometimes he clicked with people. He had clicked with Liam, and Liam had clicked with Harry. It was inevitable, really.

But now he fancied an eighteen year old. Okay, so if he pulled a guy in a club and he had turned out to be eighteen, it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. But he wouldn’t have started a chat on Grindr with an eighteen year old, that was for sure.

None of the theory mattered, anyway. Harry was a student.

Harry popped back to Louis’ room at lunchtime, trying his best to goad him into a McDonald’s trip, but Louis was trying his best to hang back, and not just because of the sluggish feeling he was beginning to have from eating so much of it. Harry left and Louis pulled his sad looking ham salad sandwich from his drawer.

He worked through lunch, trying his best to finish all his marking so that he could chill out at home. He hated having to take work home with him, partly because he liked to unwind once he left the college and partly because he didn’t trust himself not to lose something or forget the whole lot in the morning. 

He finished his marking, and with five minutes to spare. Not enough time to go all the way to the staff room and make a cup of tea, but long enough to put his feet up and stare into space, resting his eyes. That was, until there was a quiet knock on his door. 

“Hi,” Harry said, grinning around the door.

“You again?” Louis said lightly, taking his feet off his desk.

“Since you couldn’t come to McDonald’s…” Harry walked into the room and Louis’ eyes went straight to the container in his hand. “I brought McDonald’s to you.”

“Harry!” Louis threw his arms in the air dramatically and dropped them down to his lap. “You’re my hero.”

Harry walked over to the desk, looking very pleased with himself indeed. Louis stood up and took the McFlurry from his hand.

“Thank you.” Louis smiled, pushing his hand into his pocket. “They’re, what? One thirty-nine?”

Harry frowned and shook his head quickly. “My treat, Louis.”

“Well! Thank you even more, then.” 

“Dairy Milk, your favourite.” Harry smiled down at the McFlurry. “Um, right. I’m off to pet store management. My favourite class!”

Louis pouted. “I thought mine was your favourite.”

“I was being sarcastic,” Harry said with a roll of his eyes. “Pet store management is boring.”

Louis clutched his chest and fake sighed with relief.

“Good, ‘cause I panicked there for a sec.”

Harry grinned widely, and Louis couldn’t help but grin back. This whole thing was stupid, but he couldn’t help himself. And, really, there was no harm in it.

“See you later,” Harry said fondly, reaching out to squeeze Louis’ arm. Louis just smiled in response.

-

He was leading Harry on.

Louis pulled out of the college car park and began his drive home, pondering the situation. Whatever he was feeling, he knew it was mutual and, although there was nothing wrong with a bit of harmless flirting, it was probably making Harry think that something could happen between them. It couldn’t. Louis would be in  _ so _ much trouble.

He turned onto the dual carriageway and just so happened to glance at the bus stop as he drove past and spotted Harry leaning against a pole, tapping away on his phone. For fuck’s sake. Even once he left work he couldn’t escape him.

The next morning, Louis dosed up on coffee and headed in for a full day of working in the exotics unit. Louis obviously had the foundation course and both years of the level threes helping to maintain the unit, but Louis mostly took charge of making sure everything that needed to be done was done. He tasked himself with fully and deeply cleaning the snake enclosures, feeling accomplished yet positively disgusting by lunchtime. 

Luckily for Louis - and it was a massive secret from the students - the staff room had a shower in the toilet block. After a quick shower, Louis headed to his classroom to eat a salad. When there was a knock at his door, he completely assumed it would be Harry, but he looked up to see Liam through the little window.

“Come in!”

“Hey, Louis.”

“Sit down, lad. How’s everything?”

Liam sighed as he walked into the room and sat at a desk. “Got kicked by a horse this morning.”

“Shit! Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Zayn took a look and said that my ego was probably the most bruised thing.” Liam pouted. “My shin’s gotta come close though, it fucking kills.”

“Count yourself lucky, your leg could have been snapped in half.”

“She only clipped me, really.” Liam paused and then shrugged. “And then stomped on my foot, but that’s what steel toed boots are for.”

Louis laughed. “Exactly.”

Liam leaned back in his chair. “How come it smells like peach in here?”

“Oh, I just had a shower. Been deep cleaning the snakes out and I felt absolutely gross.”

“Dunno how you do it, man.” Liam swung back on his chair, leaning his elbows on the desk behind him. “Snakes are so smelly and creepy.”

“So are you, but you don’t see me complaining.” Louis threw a sarcastic smile. “Liam, horses  _ stink.” _

“No they don’t,” Liam protested. “You leave my babies alone.”

_ “You _ leave  _ my _ babies alone.”

“Snakes aren’t your babies!” Liam responded with a laugh. “Beardies are.”

“Yeah,” Louis replied with a fond smile.

Liam headed off to his class and Louis back to the exotic unit. He busied himself with taking inventory of supplies, scrubbing the floor and work spaces and taking out some clutter that had accumulated. It had been a good day. Busy and tiring, but good. He finished with an hour to spare so, still invigorated, Louis took himself off to his classroom armed with cleaning spray and a cloth and deep cleaned his desk. Then it was off to the staff room to do some printing and have a cup of tea. 

Everybody else was teaching, so while the printer whirred, Louis cuddled up on his favourite old squashy armchair with his cup of tea. It was beginning to rain outside, and Louis watched as it splattered the windows. It was over as soon as it had begun, and Louis pouted. He loved watching the rain. 

“Go home, Louis,” Lindsay said as she strolled in, carrying three tea-stained mugs in one hand. “You’ve worked too hard today.”

“Yeah, sitting here drinking tea is strenuous.”

Lindsay shot him a look. “Well, next time you get the urge to deep clean animal enclosures, let me know. I’ll move the pigs and you can scrub their pen.”

“You wish.” Louis stood up and stretched. “Okay, I’m off.”

He washed up his cup before heading back to his classroom. He had a load of crap that had accumulated in his desk that he grabbed along with his car keys and he headed out to the car park. It still looked like rain, and Louis hoped it held off until he got home.

It didn’t. As he was pulling out of the car park, the heavens opened and gave his car a good washing, which was needed, considering how often birds pooed on his car when had no choice but to park under trees at work. 

He turned onto the dual carriageway, and his eyes drifted over to the bus stop. Harry was there, standing with his arms by his sides, looking downtrodden. He had no umbrella, and there was no shelter at the bus stop.

Louis only had a split second to react, and he found himself pulling into the bus stop and winding down the passenger window. It took Harry a second, but he leaned down to peer in the window and when he saw Louis, his face split into a grin.

“Missed my bus,” Harry explained.

“You’re bloody soaked!” Louis shook his head. “Where do you live?”

“Tottenham.”

Louis sighed. “Well, that’s… not far out of my way. Get in.”

Harry bundled himself in, and Louis whacked the heating up.

“Thanks  _ so _ much, Louis,” Harry said, wet hair plastered to his forehead. “You’ve saved my life.”

“Alright, calm down.” Louis cleared his throat. “You’re dripping all over my car.”

“I’m sorry.”

Louis chuckled softly, before realising that he really should get out of the bus lane. He pulled out, trundling down the road.

“You should carry an umbrella,” Louis teased.

“I left it on the bus last week,” Harry said miserably. “So, where do you live, then? Near me?”

“Edmonton.” Louis shrugged. “So, not too far.”

“Aw. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t mind. I couldn’t live with myself if I left you there.”

“No,” Harry said, Louis seeing a grin break across his face out of the corner of his eye. “Sorry that you live in Edmonton.”

“You cheeky fuck.” Louis paused to laugh. “Yeah, it’s shit. But I own my place and I live on my own, just me and Sandra, and living in Edmonton is the price I have to pay for that luxury, I guess.”

“Sandra? Oh! Your bearded dragon.”

“Yeah. So, do you still live at home?”

Harry turned to look out the window. “Yeah.”

He was embarrassed, which was quite sweet. but Louis didn’t really expect anything else. An eighteen-year-old in London in full time education would almost never be living away from home.

“That’s cool,” Louis tried to say casually. “But you’re not from London, right?”

“From Cheshire,” Harry said, turning back to Louis. “We moved down when I was thirteen because my mum got a great job.”

“Oh, nice.”

Harry swept his damp hair away from his face, and even soaked through, Harry was gorgeous, and Louis was frustrated that he had to keep his eyes on the road and couldn’t take Harry in.

“Smells peachy in here,” Harry remarked.

Was it really that powerful a smell? “It’s my shower gel.”

“Suits you.”

Louis snapped his head around to look at Harry, before looking back at the road. Louis opened his mouth to respond, but Harry spoke first.

“You know, ‘cause you’ve got such a peachy personality.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Louis replied.

“It does,” Harry protested, trying to hide a grin. “Why, what did you think I meant?”

“Nothing,” Louis said quickly. “You smell wet.”

Harry cackled. “Sorry. What did you think when you offered a lift to a man caught in the rain?”

Louis shook his head, grinning as he approached a roundabout. He fell silent, needing to concentrate on taking the exit for Tottenham instead of towards his own home. 

“Right, you’ll have to direct me from here.”

Harry directed him through Tottenham and to his house. Louis pulled up in a parking space and Harry unbuckled his seatbelt before turning to face him.

“Thank you for taking pity on me.” Harry smiled gratefully. “Honestly, that bus journey would have been shit. I’d only be halfway home by now, and I’d be freezing.”

“You’re welcome.”

Harry’s smile disappeared, before he quickly leaned in and pecked Louis on the cheek. He hurried out of the car, grabbing his backpack before slamming the door without another word.

Louis took a deep breath and sighed loudly. 

-

It wasn’t going well.

The very next day, they both spent the lunch break in Louis’ classroom, sitting in the back row next to each other, laughing and joking and teasing each other. Harry, always one to exploit Louis’ weaknesses, took both his coat and hoodie off so that he could proudly display the fruits of his gym labour, and he even made Louis feel his muscles. He hummed, impressed, as he made Louis flex his own arms and squeezed them. Louis tucked Harry’s hair behind his ear, and everything began to feel a bit out of control.

On Friday, they did the same thing again. Did Louis sit the both of them at the back on the right because he knew it was a black spot and nobody could see them through any windows? Perhaps. 

He made no secret of stopping eating his own food to watch Harry eat a banana, and Harry absolutely loved it, playing up to it so much that Louis was half hard by the end of it. He pushed his seat in closer to the desk. He absolutely couldn’t let on.

“So, do you use Grindr a lot?” Louis asked.

Harry looked pretty taken aback to hear Louis mention Grindr, which gave Louis a strange satisfaction.

“Are you asking me if I’m promiscuous?” Harry narrowed his eyes at Louis. “No. I’ve only met two guys off of there.”

“Hmm,” Louis said. “You’ve been eighteen for, like, nine months. That’s not bad. Unless…”

“Unless what?”

“You used Grindr when you were younger than eighteen, which would have been  _ terrible. _ Awful. Totally against Grindr’s rules.”

Harry huffed. “Yeah, I know. I got banned last year.”

“Harry!” Louis cackled, before shaking his head and talking softly. “Those rules are to keep you safe, you know.”

“I know.” Harry sighed. “I was okay. I didn’t meet anyone until this time around. No harm done.”

Louis smiled and poked Harry in the dimple. 

Later on, when Louis started to drive home, he pulled out of the car park and, when he turned onto the dual carriageway and saw Harry standing at the bus stop, he knew he couldn’t not pick him up.

“My hero strikes again,” Harry said as he got into the car. “Thanks, Mr. Tomlinson.”

“I’ll chuck you out of the car if you call me that again.”

“Awww,” Harry cooed. “Such a spoilsport.”

Louis swatted Harry on the thigh with the back of his hand. Harry responded by turning his whole body in his seat to face Louis.

“Why are you staring at me?” Louis asked, trying not to smile. “I’m  _ trying _ to drive.”

“I can’t help it.”

Louis rolled his eyes and tried to pretend like his heart didn’t skip a beat. It was alright for Harry. Fancying his teacher wasn’t a big deal. It made coming to college fun and exciting, hope and promise sizzling in the air between them. For Louis, every moment with Harry was like dodging a hundred tiny bullets. 

If he was honest, Louis knew it was more or less an inevitability that he was going to give in. He couldn’t dodge it for much longer. He shouldn’t go there. He couldn’t, really.

He stayed silent until they pulled up outside Harry’s house.

“See you on Monday.”

Harry unbuckled his seatbelt and smiled and, as he moved in towards Louis, Louis’ brain was telling him to  _ move out of the way _ or  _ stop him, _ but Louis stayed frozen to the spot as Harry kissed him on the cheek, lips lingering for a split second longer than last time, and it was only then that Louis realised Harry’s hand was on his knee.

“Goodbye,” Harry said airily.

-

Louis stayed in all weekend with Sandra, ordering pizza and only leaving to pop to Sainsbury’s for some essentials. He came to work accompanied by a travel mug of strong coffee and a few brownies that he had baked to keep himself occupied the day before. 

“Hello,” Harry said, rocking up to his class five minutes early, as usual. “Good weekend?”

“Hot, steamy weekend with Sandra,” Louis said with a yawn.

“It was, like, minus two yesterday.”

“Yeah, well.” Louis shrugged. “Sandra’s got to be kept warm, hasn’t she? Her tank’s obviously heated, but I like to keep my flat very warm, too.”

“You two are like peas in a pod.”

Louis smiled. “Yeah. Something like that. Hey, do you want a brownie?”

Harry cocked an eyebrow. “What  _ kind _ of brownie?”

“No, not, like, a funny brownie. I made them.” Louis rolled his eyes as Harry walked over. “Why would I feel one of my students a weed brownie?”

“I dunno.” Harry watched as Louis pulled open his tupperware box. “You do a lot of things I’ve never had a teacher do.”

Louis looked at him but wasn’t really up for hearing him elaborate. He watched as Harry bit into the brownie, and- this was a bad idea. Harry groaned loudly and indulgently, eyes rolling back in his head as he tilted his head back.

“So fuckin’  _ good, _ Louis.”

Louis just stared at him, and Harry looked back, smiling.

“What?” he asked innocently.

“You know exactly what!” Louis sighed loudly. “Go and sit down. The rest of the class will be here any second.”

Harry, looking rather pleased with himself, took his usual seat.

The good thing for Louis was that, as soon as he started teaching the class, he could put his feelings and situation with Harry aside and focus on helping his students to learn. The same couldn’t be said for Harry, who obviously let the distraction of Louis get the better of him. When the class ended, Louis asked Harry to stay behind. Harry was smirking, but Louis just cocked an eyebrow as he shut the door behind the last student.

“You’re not paying attention.”

Harry tilted his head and frowned. “I’m paying a  _ lot _ of attention.”

“To the lesson!” Louis shook his head and hid a smile. “I thought you liked this class.”

“I do! I do.” 

“I told your mum you were doing really well, don’t make me regret that.”

But Harry was gazing back at him, and Louis thought that maybe he was getting a kick out of being reprimanded. Louis rolled his eyes.

“Harry!” Louis said, a small smile on his face as he sighed and shook his head. “This is serious. I don’t want to have to fail you.”

“Okay.” Harry stood up and held his hands up in defeat. “I’m sorry.”

“Good,” Louis said with a grin, watching Harry round his desk and walk over. “Because I care. About your education.”

“I know you do.” Harry stepped closer, eyelids heavy. “It’s mutual.”

“You care about  _ my _ education?” Louis said quietly. Harry leaned in, and Louis placed a hand on his chest to stop him. “You’ve got a class to get to.”

Harry sighed, grabbing his backpack and heading to the door. He opened it, before turning back to Louis and leaning against the side of the door.

“Gonna give me a lift home tonight?”

Louis looked at him, unimpressed. “Get out of here.”

Harry pouted. “But-”

“Yes, I’ll drive you home!”

-

Harry was waiting outside of Louis’ classroom when Louis left.

“I hope you actually went to your lesson.”

“Of course I did,” Harry replied, sounding slightly affronted. “I wouldn’t miss animal science.”

“Good. Well, I just need to pop to the stables to see Liam. Meet you by the car?” Louis shrugged. “Or, you know, come with me, if you want.”

He should have known Harry would pick the latter option. It was cold, and Louis mentally cursed himself for borrowing Liam’s charger. They arrived in the stableyard and Louis waved to Zayn, who was walking across the yard, carrying a saddle on his shoulder.

“Oh my God,” Harry whispered to Louis. “Who the hell is that?”

“That’s Zayn. Saddlery student.”

“No wonder Liam spends all his bloody time here.” Harry scoffed. “Fuck. That guy can saddle me up any time.”

Louis’ eyebrows shot up and he snapped his head around to look at Harry.

“Harry!” he said. “Don’t say that!”

Harry snorted. “Why? Jealous?”

Louis opened his mouth to respond, but was cut off by Liam.

“Lou!” Liam smiled warmly as he emerged from the stable block, before holding his hand out to take his charger back. “Ah, thanks for dropping it off, man.”

“No problem. See you tomorrow, yeah?”

“See ya. Later, Harry.”

“Bye.”

They walked back to the car and Louis wanted to tell Harry to hurry up. Louis never did deal well with the winter. It was just  _ so cold. _ What was that about? The worst part of it was that his birthday was always bitterly cold but never snowy.

One year he was going to up and leave. Go to sunnier climes for the Christmas holidays. Not that his mother would ever let him do something like that. Not until all his siblings were grown, anyway.

He made a lot of noise about getting into the car and whacking the heating up on full. Harry seemed very amused by it.

“Are you cold, Mr. Tomlinson?”

“You’re gonna be cold when I make you walk home.” Louis held his hands out in front of the vents. “It’s baltic out. Gonna get the heating on in my flat.”

Harry watched as Louis pulled out his phone and used his app to turn the heating on.

“Impressive,” Harry said. “They clearly pay you too much here.”

“How dare you,” Louis said lightly. “The flat came with this thing installed.”

Harry fiddled with the vents on his side until the heat was blowing in a direction that he was satisfied with. Once the car started to warm up, Louis pulled out of the car park.

“It’s warm,” Harry complained and slipped his coat off. “You just trying to get me to strip?”

Louis just sighed loudly in response. In retrospect, he shouldn’t have let Harry even get in his car on college grounds. What if someone saw? He supposed he could reason that Harry lived nearby to him. After all, surely there was nothing wrong in giving him a lift?

Louis wished he believed that. There was plenty wrong with it. To him, it crossed a line into spending time with Harry outside of college, and that was risky. There was far less chance of being caught if they got up to anything like this, which was scary, because it almost made him forget all the reasons why he shouldn’t let anything happen.

He remembered the route to Harry’s now without direction, and as Harry chatted away about a girl on his course who was annoying - Louis agreed, if he was honest - he pulled up outside Harry’s house.

“Oh!” Harry giggled when he noticed they had arrived. 

Louis watched out of the corner of his eye as Harry unbuckled his seatbelt and turned his body towards him. He leaned in, placing a hot hand on Louis’ thigh before pressed a soft, lingering kiss to his cheek, not pulling away afterwards.

“Thanks for the lift,  _ sir.” _

Louis closed his eyes and took a deep breath as Harry pressed his lips to his jaw, hand creeping up his thigh. Louis sighed.

“Goodbye, Harry,” he said flatly, moving his head away from Harry’s.

Harry pulled back, blinking for a second before getting out of the car and closing the door without another word.

-

“Harry? A word.”

Harry stopped in his tracks as he was walking towards the door of the exotic animal unit. He sighed, turning around and looking expectantly at Louis. He looked somewhat like a stroppy teenager, which only reassured Louis that he was doing the right thing by resisting him. 

“Can we talk?” Louis asked.

Harry nodded. Louis waited for him to say something, but he didn’t.

“Can we go to my room?”

“Okay.”

Louis walked them out and across the grounds to the classrooms and unlocked his door. Harry stepped inside and Louis closed the door behind him.

“I know you’re upset with me,” Louis said as Harry headed straight to the back of the classroom and sat at a desk. “But… this… has to stop.”

“What?”

“This crush you have on me,” Louis said, and he could tell even before he looked at Harry’s expression that it was a shitty thing to have said. Harry was staring at him with a look of incredulous hurt. “I’m your teacher.”

“Don’t,” Harry said, shaking his head. “This is a two-way thing, don’t try and act like this is me being a kid with a crush. Don’t you dare.”

Louis sighed and leaned against the wall behind Harry. Okay, Harry was right, but Louis couldn’t exactly admit to fancying a student. 

“I shouldn’t be driving you home, and…” Louis looked at the back of Harry’s head. “Look, you crossed a line yesterday afternoon. And it’s got to stop.”

Harry scraped his chair back, narrowly missing Louis’ toes. He stood in front of Louis, no longer looking irritated or hurt, but looking a little desperate.

“It’s not illegal,” he said quietly. “I looked it up.”

“I  _ know,” _ Louis said with a sigh. “But that still doesn’t make it right. And I would definitely lose my job.”

“Only if someone finds out.” Harry placed his hands either side of Louis’ face, his palms hot and firm. Louis grabbed his wrists with the intention of pulling his hands away, but it didn’t seem to be working. “I won’t tell anybody. I have one friend, and he’s your friend, too.”

A thrill was shooting around Louis’ body, which he resented, and his heart was pounding. He closed his eyes to gather himself, but Harry must have misinterpreted it because before Louis knew what was happening, Harry was kissing him.

Louis automatically began to kiss back before he realised that he should be stopping it, and he gently pushed Harry until he broke their kiss. His cheeks were flushed, lips bright pink and his eyes were wide and happy.

“We can’t do this,” Louis whispered, holding onto Harry’s hands, which were now gripping on his shoulders. “Go on your lunch break.”

Harry’s lips parted, before he stepped backwards and sighed with a smile.

“Okay. Will you drive me home later?”

Louis paused, before nodding. “Yeah.”

Harry took a slow walk to the front of the classroom and left the room. Louis leaned back against the wall and covered his mouth with his hands. 

-

Louis felt completely useless for the rest of the day. His job was on the line. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Harry not to tell anybody, but they had become visibly close and people were beginning to notice, especially if Louis was giving lifts to Harry every single day. He always parked in the main car park, but there was a small car park around the back of the classrooms. Maybe he should park there. But would that look even more suspicious?

He was going round in circles. 

Once the day had finished, Louis stayed behind to finish off a little bit of paperwork, so by the time he came out, Harry was waiting for him in the car park. 

“Why did you wait out here?” Louis asked, remotely unlocking the car. “It’s freezing. You should’ve waited in my room. Or at least reception.”

“I wanted to give you some space,” Harry said, looking proud of it. “And I didn’t want to draw attention to myself in reception.”

“Hmm.” Louis smiled as he got into the driver's side. “Very good.”

Harry stared at Louis as he put his seatbelt on. When he was buckled in, he turned his head to Harry.

“Yes?”

“Can I kiss you?”

“Absolutely not.” Louis sighed. “Not- not while we’re  _ here.” _

“Oh, okay.” Harry seemed satisfied enough by that answer. 

“Look…” Louis took a deep breath and sighed. “I hope you realise what’s at stake here. It might just seem like a job to you, but I’m really happy here. It’s my career, you know, it’s my life. I studied here, it’s like a second home.”

“I know, Louis. I respect all of that, I swear.” Harry cleared his throat. “So, like… what are you saying?”

Louis glanced at Harry, then looked back at the road. “I’m not sure.”

“We should talk about it though, yeah? Properly. So we both know where we stand.”

“Yes. You’re right,” Louis said.

“We can’t talk like this, not with your attention split. We should go somewhere? Park up or something. I’d offer my house, but my mum will be home by the time we get there.”

Louis sighed again. He didn’t want to sit on the street in the car, not in this cold weather. It might have been a bit of a risk, but he would take Harry to his flat.

“We’ll go to mine. But no funny business. We’re just going to talk.”

“Got it.”

Louis could tell that Harry was smiling, and he rolled his eyes. Harry was relentless, but Louis knew he was right. They needed to talk about this and decide what to do, and stick to it.

Louis pulled into the car park of his block of flats and mentally ran through his flat, trying to remember if he left any mess. He had cleaned Sandra out yesterday, so that was something. They headed inside in silence, and Harry didn’t speak until they stepped through the front door into the hallway.

“Gosh, you  _ do _ keep it warm in here.” Harry started stripping off layers. “Did it on purpose, didn’t you?”

“One hundred percent trying to get you naked.”

Harry smiled at him, eyes dark and hungry. Louis turned around and walked into the living room.

“Do you want a drink? Tea? Water? Milk? Squash?”

“Milk? Squash?!” Harry scoffed. “None of this is gonna work if you treat me like a child.”

“Tea it is.” Louis rolled his eyes yet again as he walked into the kitchen. He knew Harry was following him and, as he switched the kettle on, he felt Harry’s hands on his hips. “Harry…”

“Definitely no one will catch us here,” he murmured near Louis’ ear as he stepped closer.

“This isn’t talking,” Louis said, frowning as he pushed his body back against Harry’s and then turned around. “Go sit on the sofa.”

“But I-”

“Go!” Louis said with a laugh.

When Louis entered the living room with two cups of tea, Harry was peering into Sandra’s tank.

“This vivarium is huge.” Harry turned to look at Louis. “I don’t know why I thought you’d have a smaller one.”

“Only the best for my girl.”

Harry grinned. “Aww. So, is she in brumation?”

“So, you  _ do _ listen when I speak.” Louis sat down on the sofa. “It’s not all gawping.”

“Hey! I do not gawp.”

“Hm.” Louis took a sip of his tea. “Come on, lad. Come sit.”

Harry did as he was told. He picked up his cup of tea and took a sip before grimacing.

“Um. I take sugar.”

“I don’t have sugar,” Louis lied flatly. “Sugar in tea is sacrilege.”

Harry stood up and headed towards the kitchen, and Louis scrambled to his feet and followed him through. 

“What’s this tin next to the tea that says  _ sugar _ on it, then?”

“That’s cereal sugar. It’s poison if you put it in tea.”

“Shut up.” Harry laughed and shook his head as he added sugar to his tea. “You can’t force everyone to do things the way you do, you know.”

“I just have a really strong belief that sugar does not belong in tea.”

“You’re wrong,” Harry said with a shrug, plopping the spoon from the tin into his cup and stirring. Louis winced. “Always so wrong.”

Louis raised his eyebrows. He wasn’t the type to really rise to someone goading him, and this was no exception. Harry’s eyes were dancing, waiting for a reaction.

“Okay,” Louis replied simply.

Harry looked unimpressed. He placed his tea down on the counter and walked over to Louis, standing in front of him and folding his arms.

“You’re no fun.”

Louis slowly looked Harry up and down. “That’s not true.”

“Prove it,” Harry replied quietly.

“Have you not learnt by now that I can’t be goaded, Harry?”

Harry rolled his eyes and took Louis’ hands in his own, gently placing them around his waist. Louis smiled, linking his fingers together by the small of Harry’s back. Harry took a step closer.

“Can we stop messing about?” he asked quietly, draping his arms loosely around Louis’ neck. “We both know what’s gonna happen.”

“What’s that, then?” Louis replied. They needed to talk, they really did, but Harry was right. As soon as Louis agreed to bring Harry back to his flat, it was inevitable that stuff was going to happen.

Harry kissed him softly, and Louis felt every last inch of his resolve melt away. Louis pulled Harry closer, which seemed to please him, and he began to kiss Louis with more intent. Louis slipped his hands under Harry’s college polo, lifted it up over his head and tossed it as far as he could. It wasn’t only that he wanted to undress Harry, but he needed to get away all reminders of what he was doing, what he was risking.

He spread his fingers and ran his hands over Harry’s back. Shit, he was so fit. His shoulders were just so broad, which was a particular weakness of Louis’. Harry pulled his mouth away slightly from Louis’, panting against his skin.

“So, um… you wanted to talk?” Harry whispered, mocking in his tone.

“Don’t be a dickhead,” Louis replied. “Let’s go to my room.”

“Wanna take me to bed?” Harry cooed, before pressing a kiss to the side of Louis’ mouth. “What do you wanna do, baby?”

Louis sighed, grasping the back of Harry’s head as he moved his lips to Louis’ jaw.

“Wanna fuck you.”

“Hm,” Harry hummed with a slight laugh. “Babe, I’m a top.”

Louis pulled Harry’s head back by his hair and looked at him.

_ “I’m _ a top.”

Harry paused before laughing and dropping his forehead to Louis’ shoulder.

“Ah, shit.” Harry sighed loudly. “Well, that’s okay.”

He lifted his head and smiled at Louis, who shook his head fondly.

“So when you were looking through my Grindr profile, you didn’t notice it said I was a top?”

“No!” Harry whined. “I dunno, I didn’t look at that stuff. At that time I wasn’t  _ actually _ looking at you for sex.”

“Fair enough,” Louis said with a sigh. “I guess I didn’t look at yours, either.”

“So you looked at my profile?”

Louis grimaced. “Yeah, uh… I blocked you.”

“You did  _ what?” _ Harry scoffed. “Rude.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Louis said quickly. “We’re here, aren’t we?”

Louis took Harry’s hand and led him to the bedroom. They quickly undressed each other, hands fumbling as trousers and underwear came off. 

“Shit,” Louis said with an awed laugh, taking a step back and looking at Harry. “You’re gorgeous.”

“Thanks,” Harry murmured, eyes firmly on Louis’ cock as he closed the space that Louis had just put between them. 

Harry pushed Louis to the bed and crawled on top of him. Pressing his body down on Louis, Harry’s cock came into contact with Louis’, and Louis moaned loudly.

“Fuck,” Harry murmured, before kissing Louis’ jaw, then his neck, then giving attention to his collarbones.

Louis closed his eyes and inhaled a deep, ragged breath. It had been… a little while for him. He liked the idea of Grindr, an honest environment to find no strings attached fun, but in practice it was a lion’s den, at least half of the men not knowing honesty if it slapped them around the face. He just didn’t have the time or energy to go to clubs, so he had sort of just got used to being on his own.

But now he wasn’t on his own. Harry, a very willing and eager eighteen year old was trailing kisses down Louis’ chest, over his ribs, onto his stomach. Louis bit his bottom lip hard as he watched Harry continue down, mouthing over his lower stomach before looking up at him.

“This okay, yeah?” Harry asked.

“Harry,” Louis said. “Have you had a lot of sex?”

“What?” Harry asked with a surprise giggle. “Um… I mean, some. Not a lot. I’m not a virgin, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“No, I just…” Louis sighed and rolled his eyes at himself. “I dunno.”

“I have been sexually active since, like, a month before my sixteenth birthday.” Harry grabbed hold of Louis’ cock, and Louis gasped. “I have no innocence left for you to steal, so can you chill out?”

“Sorry, I just…”

Harry sighed, sounding irritated, and he licked a stripe up the underside of Louis’ cock. If it was a cheap attempt to shut Louis up, then, well. It worked. Louis dug his fingertips into the bed as Harry took him into his mouth noisily, making assorted guzzling, slurping, pleased noises which would have made Louis laugh if he wasn’t so fucking hard. 

Louis’ last boyfriend, to his credit, had been good at blow jobs, but he hadn’t truly  _ enjoyed  _ giving them, especially not to completion. The be all and end all with Chaz had been penetration, and it kind of felt refreshing for that not to be the case with Harry. Maybe, if this worked out between them, they would find a way to compromise, but for now, there was a million and one other things they could do to satisfy each other. 

Louis tried to think about what he would do to Harry a bit later, but he could barely focus. All he could think about was the tight, hot, wet mouth encompassing him and the way that Harry sucked him as if his whole life had been building to this moment. Louis was, embarrassingly, already close, the sight of Harry’s head bobbing and his arse in the air just adding to the pressure building low in his stomach. 

“Harry, you’re so fucking good,” Louis babbled. “I’m close.”

Harry put even more effort into it, if that was even possible, and he sunk down so far that Louis felt his tip nudge the back of Harry’s throat. Louis felt himself twitch at that, and as Harry pulled off slightly with a filthy suction, Louis let out a yell as he felt his orgasm surge out of him. A thrilling rush of pleasure coursed through every part of him and then drained out of him, leaving a spent, weak feeling everywhere apart from his cock, which was  _ fucking  _ sensitive. It was pleasant, at first, as Harry softly licked over the tip, pulling off a second or two after it became too much for Louis.

He beamed stupidly up at Louis, crawling up the bed to lie next to him and kiss him.

“Mm, Mr. Tomlinson.” Harry kissed him again. “You taste amazing. Don’t you think?”

Louis shrugged awkwardly, not having enough brain power to formulate a response. Instead, he slid his hand between them and grabbed hold of Harry’s cock and began to tug.

“Ah, fuck.” Harry’s breath caught in his throat and he closed his eyes. “Um, Louis?”

“Yes, babe?”

“Can I, like…” Harry opened his eyes and frowned. He looked a bit unsure, which was not like him in the slightest. “Can I just like, grind against your bum? And come on you?”

“Oh, sure!”

Louis rolled onto his front, quickly reaching down to adjust his cock, before jiggling his arse slightly and grinning at Harry.

“This arse,” Harry said with a sigh, running his hands over Louis’ cheeks. “I’ve spent entire animal behaviour lessons daydreaming about this arse.”

“Oi!” Louis said, affronted. “You’re not supposed to admit things like that to me.”

“I’m sorry,  _ sir, _ but nothing you could teach me in a lesson could be as interesting as this arse.”

Louis looked at him over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows. Harry climbed on top of him, parted his cheeks, pressed his cock between them and let go. He took a deep breath and began to move.

As much as he didn’t like bottoming, Louis didn’t dislike attention on his arse. The indirect pressure on his hole as Harry thrust between his arse cheeks was maddening, and he felt himself arching into it. The action parted his cheeks slightly, and Harry’s cock pulled back and when he moved forwards, the head of his cock prodded straight at his hole.

“Fuck!” he shouted.

“Sorry! Sorry.” Harry swore under his breath as he adjusted his cock. “Are you okay?”

“Just a shock,” Louis reassured him.

Harry reached down to push Louis’ cheeks together as he sped up, and not long later he came with a strangled moan, Louis turning his head to watch Harry splash come onto his lower back.

“Thank you,” Harry said quietly as he flopped down next to Louis with a sigh. “Sorry again.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Louis leaned in to kiss him. 

Harry shuffled even closer and swung a leg over Louis’ bum.

“So, any regrets?”

Harry spoke softly, and the reluctance in his tone threatened to break Louis’ heart. 

“No,” Louis replied, voice equally as soft and trying to convey as much sincerity as he could. “Of course not.”

“Good.” Harry pressed a kiss to Louis’ shoulder. “Maybe this is a good time to, uh, talk.”

“Will you do me a favour first?” Louis asked, and Harry nodded. “Find something to clean your come off my back?”

Harry giggled, burying his face in the pillow. “Yeah, of course.”

He hopped off of the bed and a few seconds later returned with a couple of squares of kitchen towel. He wiped Louis’ back and disposed of the kitchen towel before they both slipped under the duvet and laid on their sides, looking at each other.

“Well, now that we’ve got rid of that awful sexual tension…” Louis grinned. “Look, I know I’ve already said this a million times, but this is serious. No funny business at college, yeah? And… I want to drive you home every afternoon, but I think we should go back to me picking you up at the bus stop.”

“Okay.”

Louis frowned. “You’re gonna be there for two years. At least. This is gonna be a nightmare, I hope you’re aware.”

Harry looked down, fixating his gaze on his thumbnail.

“Yeah, um… yeah.”

Louis stroked the back of his hand over Harry’s cheek, and Harry closed his eyes and smiled.

“I should get you home.”

Harry groaned. “In a minute.”

Harry opened his eyes and kissed Louis, who in turn closed his own eyes and revelled in the feeling of Harry’s soft lips, kisses with no heat behind them as Harry tangled their legs together and sighed.

“I do like you,” Harry whispered. “I wasn’t just trying to fuck you.”

“Mm, you were mainly trying to fuck me.”

“That’s not true,” Harry replied and, even with his eyes closed, Louis could tell he was grinning. “I’ll happily take a vow of celibacy if you don’t believe me.”

Louis opened his eyes and gave Harry a look. “That won’t be necessary.”

After another ten minutes of cuddling, they both got dressed and braced themselves against the cold as they hurried into Louis’ car. It wasn’t a long journey to Harry’s by any stretch of the imagination, and it felt like two seconds had passed before they arrived at Harry’s.

“Thanks for the lift,” Harry said with a wide grin. He placed his hand on Louis’ thigh and leaned in to kiss him and, unlike the other times he had done this, their lips met and Harry kissed Louis with so much fervour that Louis had to push him away.

“Go home,” Louis said with a slight laugh.

-

Louis couldn’t concentrate during his entire exotics lesson with the second years. The Christmas holidays were in a week and he would be up in Donny for almost the entire two weeks. He would miss Harry a lot, but he would probably cope better than Harry.

They had swapped numbers and Harry was pretty much constantly in contact. Louis didn’t mind, but it was a bit full on and so he was a bit worried that Harry would spend his whole Christmas break pining. When he felt his phone vibrate against his thigh, he narrowed his eyes. It would be Harry, despite the fact that Harry was currently in animal science two classrooms down.

_ ‘DISSECTION IN THE NEW YEAR? I’m not coming in that day’ _

Louis schooled his expression as he quickly tapped a reply out under the desk.

_ ‘It’s important! Stop texting or I’ll come in and confiscate your phone :)’ _

_ ‘Omg. Please come!!! Need to see your face so bad.’ _

Louis rolled his eyes.  _ ‘I’m literally your next class. Patience. Xx’ _

Louis buried his phone in his pocket. He let his class go five minutes early and he headed to the staff room to make himself a cup of tea. When he got back, the entire animal behaviour class was waiting outside his room.

“Sorry, guys. Needed tea. You know me.”

He unlocked the door and the students piled in. Harry was grinning at him unabashedly and Louis made a mental note to tell him off. He avoided looking at Harry for the entire lesson, not trusting himself to be as discreet as he needed to be. It was lunch after this class, and Louis couldn’t wait. When he dismissed the class, Harry - of course - stayed behind.

Louis shut the door and looked at him, unimpressed.

“You’re going to need to stop drawing attention to yourself when it comes to me.”

“What do you mean?” Harry asked innocently.

“You think that nobody’s noticed that you stay behind, like, every single time this class is over?” Louis sighed. “It’s okay for it to look like we’re friendly, but you don’t see Liam waiting behind after every class.”

“Okay,” Harry said sadly. “Does that mean you don’t want to come to McDonald’s with me?”

Louis smiled. “No. But if you think you can be discreet, you can bring me back some.”

-

Harry returned fifteen minutes later with McDonald’s for both of them. They sat in the back right hand corner - the established blackspot - and Harry sat on the desk while Louis sat in a chair.

“It’s so hard to just sit there looking at you for over an hour,” Harry complained. “All I wanted to do was touch you.”

Harry placed his hand on Louis’ forearm, as if to prove his point.

“Well, if you insist on having a secret affair, that comes with the territory.”

Harry shrugged, humming. “Suppose.”

Louis picked up a chicken nugget and paused. “You gonna miss me over the holidays?”

Harry tilted his head, looking down at him. “Yeah, but… I can see you, can’t I?”

“Well, I’ll be up north for the majority of it.” Louis smiled. “But we can definitely see each other when I’m here.”

Harry frowned down at his burger box. “I’ll definitely miss you. It’s not fair, all this. Why couldn’t we have met like two normal people so we wouldn’t have to hide?”

Louis took Harry’s hand in his own and pressed a kiss to it.

“That’s the way it is, I suppose.”

Harry nodded thoughtfully.

-

That afternoon, Louis dropped a moody Harry off at home.

“Can’t we go to yours? Just for a bit?”

“Monday.”

Harry whined. “Do I not even get to see you this weekend?”

Louis paused to think about it. He had a lot to do this weekend.

“If I pick you up on Sunday afternoon and bring you back to mine for dinner, will you behave?”

“Yes, sir.”

Louis sighed. He walked into that. “I’ll see you Sunday. Go on, go inside.”

Harry leaned in, kissed Louis on the cheek, and got out of the car. 

Louis spent Saturday cleaning his flat from top to bottom. It wasn’t anything to do with Harry. It was just long overdue. He did three loads of washing, cleared and cleaned his fridge, and did some shopping. Once the evening hit, he settled down to watch whatever films came on TV with a beer.

He put on some film, and texted Harry all the way through.

_ ‘What are you cooking me?’ _

_ ‘You’ll have to wait and see’ _

_ ‘Got anything else planned for us? ;)’ _

_ ‘No, but I’m sure you’ve been thinking about it’ _

_ ‘Nonstop’ _

Louis sighed, hand absently resting on his soft cock. Okay, so he had, too. Nothing in particular, but ever since the other day, he couldn’t stop thinking about how it felt to have Harry in his bed, his naked, toned body pressed against him. It was distracting, and it was invading his every waking moment. Some of his sleeping moments, too.

It was ridiculous. At least he knew Harry would be coming round tomorrow. For dinner.

_ ‘Tell me what you’ve been thinking about’, _ he replied to Harry, immediately feeling a bit embarrassed.

_ ‘Want my mouth on every single part of your body, tease you until you beg me to suck you off’ _

Louis groaned loudly, feeling his cock start to fill.

_ ‘Sounds great ;) except I’m not very patient.’ _

_ ‘You’ll have to be :) You know what else I want?’ _

_ ‘What???’ _

_ ‘Beard rash on my bum cheeks’ _

“Shit,” Louis murmured, squeezing himself through his joggers. 

_ ‘Wanna grind on you until we both come,’  _ Harry’s messages continued.

_ ‘Wanna come on your face’ _

_ ‘Can you come get me???’ _

Louis stared at the texts as they came in, one after the other. He slipped his left hand into his joggers and wrapped his fingers around his cock, typing a text with his right hand.

_ ‘Now it’s you who has to be patient. If you can wait until tomorrow, I’ll let you do all of it’ _

Louis didn’t know if he had it in himself to wait, let alone make Harry wait. He had to. He couldn’t go and get Harry every time one of them got hard. Besides, they needed to take this slow. Well. Maybe not slow. But not at the speed of light.

His breath caught in his throat as a video came through. He pressed play, and watched as Harry slowly tugged his hand over his cock. A second video came through, Harry’s hand moving quicker this time as he moaned out Louis’ name.

Louis whined, finally beginning to move his own hand over his cock. He was so turned on that he knew it would only take a couple of minutes for him to come, which was crazy. If he was honest, he had become accustomed to long, frustrating wanks.

He snapped a photo, hand still in his joggers but the line of his hard cock blatantly visible through the material. He sent it off to Harry, before watching the videos again. He was so close, but the next photo that Harry sent pushed him over the edge, coming with a jerk and a yelp into his joggers and over his fist.

“Ugh,” he said with a sigh, before laughing.

He looked at the photo again. Harry’s hard, spent cock laid on his lower stomach, surrounded by come, Harry’s long delicate fingers resting next to it.

_ ‘You made me make a mess in my joggers’ _

Harry replied immediately.  _ ‘If you had come and got me, there would be no mess :) I’m very tidy’ _

Louis sighed, standing up and waddling uncomfortably to the bathroom.

_ ‘You just make sure you’re recovered for tomorrow xx’ _

-

Louis tapped the steering wheel impatiently. He was parked at the end of Harry’s road, feeling a little reluctant to wait for him directly outside his house. Harry finally bundled himself into the car, beaming stupidly as he leaned in to kiss Louis. 

“Good afternoon,” Harry said, seeming in very good spirits indeed. “Let’s get going.”

“Well,” Louis said, making sure Harry was buckled in before indicating and pulling out of the parking space. “You’re very eager. You must be very hungry for dinner.”

“You better not be feeding me dinner at 4pm,” Harry remarked. “We’re not all old like you.”

Louis gasped. “How dare you. You’re only attracted to me because I’m an older man.”

“I like you  _ despite _ you being old.”

“Mm.” Louis grinned as he focused on the road. “How are you?”

“So fucking horny.”

“Right.”

Harry turned in his seat to face Louis. “You look like you are, too.”

Louis glanced sideways with a smile. “Something like that.”

Harry slowly slid his hand onto Louis’ thigh, moving it up and squeezing.

Louis sighed with a slight growl. “Harry…”

“Can’t wait to get my hands on you.”

Louis fidgeted in his seat. “We’ll be back at mine in less than ten minutes.”

“Pull over and give me a snog, at least?”

“No!” Louis laughed and shook his head. “God, you’re eager.”

“I really am.” Harry slid his hand even further up and moved his little finger so that it grazed Louis’ cock.

Louis groaned. He needed to concentrate on driving them home as safely yet as quickly as possible. 

“Missed you,” Harry said with a whine.

“Harry, if you just stop and let me get us home without crashing, I swear we’ll do whatever you want as soon as we get in the door.”

Harry withdrew his hand immediately and pushed both of his hands between his thighs. 

“Good boy.”

Harry sighed noisily and looked out of the window. Louis smiled. Harry’s sheer need was getting to Louis, and he thanked God that they were only a couple of roads away from his flat. When they pulled into his parking space, Harry quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and got out, shivering as Louis calmly got out and locked the car.

“You need to learn how to control your urges,” Louis said breezily, feeling half-mad with arousal himself. 

Harry was at his back, hands on his hips and pushing him as he fumbled with his key, pushing it into the lock and, as soon as they were inside, Harry slammed the door behind them and surged towards Louis. He pressed him against the wall and kissed him, and Louis felt a terrific thrill course through him. Harry unceremoniously tugged Louis’ joggers down and wrapped a hand around his semi-hard cock.

“Fuck. You’re not messing about, are you?”

Harry just groaned desperately, tugging on Louis’ cock as if he was getting direct gratification from it. Maybe he was, but so was Louis, whose knees were beginning to weaken.

“Bedroom?” he asked stupidly.

Harry looked into his eyes and Louis felt as if he was looking right into his soul. It was unnerving.

“Live a little.”

“It’s just that my knees are gonna give way.”

“Oh. Well, now you’ve given me a challenge.”

Harry dropped to his knees with a  _ thunk _ and took Louis in his mouth, immediately deep throating him. Louis let out a yell, slapping his palms to the wall behind him as Harry bobbed his head so deeply that Louis had to grab hold of his hair just to get purchase on something.

“You’re a fucking animal,” Louis panted.

Harry chuckled, sending shockwaves through Louis’ body. He reached around and pulled Louis from the wall, digging his fingers into Louis’ arse cheeks, so hard that Louis was sure he would leave bruises.

Harry suddenly withdrew his mouth and looked up at Louis.

“Hey, did you like what I did last time?”

“What bit?” Louis asked, his hips bucking involuntarily.

“When I was, you know, thrusting against your bum.”

“Oh!” Louis nodded. “Yeah. I like things against it, just not… in it.”

“Then turn around,” Harry said, voice maddeningly even. “Hands on the wall.”

Louis did as he was told and braced himself against the wall. 

“Good boy,” Harry cooed.

Harry’s hands went back to his arse cheeks, squeezing and massaging them before pulling them apart and then Louis felt Harry’s hot breath between them.

_ Fuck. _ Louis had only been rimmed once, and he had loved it. He had never really thought to ask for it.

“Please,” he whined, hating how desperate he sounded as he shuffled his legs further apart.

Harry pressed an extremely wet tongue against his hole and Louis’ brain short circuited. His hole clenched and Harry moaned against it, slurping wetly before dipping down to lick over his balls. He gently licked them into his mouth, and Louis clenched a fist and slammed it against the wall. 

“Fuck!” he yelled loudly. “Jesus  _ fucking  _ Christ.”

Harry’s tongue danced around Louis’ balls before slowly pulling off, pressing his tongue once again to Louis’ hole as he wrapped a hand around Louis’ shaft. As soon as Harry moved his hand Louis came, pressing his arse back against Harry’s face, limbs twitching as he splattered come onto the wall.

Harry pulled away, panting, as Louis slumped down to his knees and shuffled around to kiss Harry passionately, conveying his gratitude with his mouth as best he could.

“Thank you,” he said, before sitting back on his heels. “Thank you, thank you.”

Harry dropped to sit on the floor properly and crossed his legs under him.

“You’re welcome.” He beamed. “You like getting your arse eaten, then? Nice.”

Louis took a deep breath and sighed. “Looks like it.”

Harry exhaled with a hum, before standing up and holding his hand out.

“Come on. What are we cooking for dinner?”

Louis put his hand into Harry’s and let himself be pulled up, before grabbing his joggers and sheepishly pulling them back on.

“Do you not want me to, um, deal with that?” Louis pointed at Harry’s prominent bulge. “You were  _ so  _ desperate for gratification.”

“I’m okay for now,” Harry said with a soft smile. “It’ll be better if I wait.”

“As long as you’re sure.”

Harry nodded, smiling sweetly.

Louis made a bolognese under the watchful eye of Harry, who always kept at least one hand on Louis’ body and stole kisses throughout the whole preparation. They left it to cook slowly and retired to the sofa, where they inevitably ended up kissing, getting lost in the act for God knows how long, before Harry pulled away because he needed a wee and absolutely couldn’t wait any longer. 

Louis leaned his head back on the sofa and closed his eyes. So far, the risk Louis was taking by seeing Harry was paying off. He liked him a lot, they had a lot of fun, and Louis felt revitalised. This had the potential to be a great thing, if they were careful. Really fucking careful.

He was startled into reality when Harry returned and slipped onto his lap, wrapping arms around his neck.

“I don’t know how I’m gonna try and act like we’re mere acquaintances when I’ve eaten your arse.” 

“Oh my God,” Louis said quietly, dropping his head to Harry’s shoulder. “I’m your teacher.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Harry said softly. 

“Not everyone can say they’ve rimmed their teacher.”

Harry groaned. “That’s true.”

“It’s still early,” Louis said, looking at the clock. “Come on, let’s go into my room. Work up an appetite for dinner?”

Harry shuffled backwards, positioning himself back against the arm of the sofa, his legs still on Louis’ lap.

“No,” Harry said simply.  _ “Now _ who can’t get enough, hm?”

“It’s just not fair! You deserve to get off, too.”

Harry shrugged. “And I will. Later. But I want to spend some time with you.”

Louis’ face broke out into a smile. “Okay. So, shall we watch a film?”

“Sure.”

“In bed?” Louis fluttered his eyelashes. “Come on, that’s a good compromise.”

Harry smirked. “Okay.”

-

Harry sat between Louis’ legs in bed as they watched some random horror film that Louis found on Netflix. Louis tangled his legs on top of Harry’s. He didn’t know what had come over him, but he wanted his body to be as close to Harry’s as possible at all times.

Harry didn’t seem to mind. The film was shit, and so he let Louis distract him. Louis pulled Harry’s t-shirt off, coming up with some excuse about massaging him. He rubbed Harry’s shoulders, digging his thumbs in, and Harry let out a quiet moan. 

“That’s nice.”

Louis dropped his head to press a kiss to the back of Harry’s neck. Harry hung his head, and Louis moved his hands to Harry’s biceps, squeezing as he moved his mouth down to Harry’s shoulder blade.

“Harry, you are so fucking  _ fit.” _ Louis sighed. “Are you really strong? I bet you’re strong.”

“I’m kinda strong.”

“Mm.” Louis moved back up to kiss Harry’s jaw, and slid his hands onto Harry’s pecs. “You’re so sexy. I can’t believe I ever thought I’d be able to resist you.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” Harry murmured. “Between your bum and your face…”

“Yeah?” Louis placed a hand on Harry’s cheek and turned his head to face him. “Is that it?”

“You work so hard, and you’re so passionate.” Harry closed his eyes as Louis pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “And you’re funny.”

“And?” Louis said as he moved his hands down to grip Harry’s hips. “What else attracted you to me?”

“And...  _ maybe… _ Maybe I was turned on by the fact you were my teacher.”

Louis was beginning to get quite good at not feeling a sense of panic when he was reminded of the fact that Harry was his student. It was what it was. Harry was eighteen, and it would only be for two years. Two years. They weren’t even actually officially ‘seeing’ each other yet. What would the situation be in two years?

He put the thought out of his mind as he unbuttoned Harry’s jeans, pulled the zip down and slid his hand in. Harry inhaled sharply and dropped his head backwards and leaned his weight into Louis.

“Fuck,  _ yes,” _ Harry said with a sigh.

Louis made light work of it. There would be time after dinner to take things slow, but for now his goal was just to get Harry to come, make it so they could both enjoy dinner without being clouded by arousal.

If he was honest, he didn’t think he would manage that himself. Harry was clearly approaching orgasm quickly, but he was so noisy and squirmy that Louis felt his own cock filling right back up. Harry placed his hands on Louis’ knees, bracing himself as he whined, Louis tugging and twisting his fist as he pumped.

“Gonna come for me, baby?” Louis whispered hotly in Harry’s ear.

“Yeah.” Harry sounded strained. “Too hot.”

“Too hot, love?” Louis frowned, before doing his best to grab the duvet and throw it off of them. The red tip of Harry’s cock poked out from the waistband of his underwear. “Better?”

“Yeah.” Harry closed his eyes and bucked up rhythmically into Louis’ hand. “Gonna come.”

His whines increased in pitch and Louis hooked his chin on Harry’s shoulder so he could watch properly as Harry came, spurting out in pulses onto his stomach and boxers. Louis eased off, slowing his movements until he was gently stroking over Harry, before coming to a stop.

“The noises you make are  _ filthy,” _ Louis murmured quietly into Harry’s ear, before kissing him on the cheek.

Harry hummed contently and grabbed Louis’ hands, pulling them around his waist.

“I really love being here with you.”

Louis blinked and smiled to himself. “The feeling’s mutual.”

-

Harry nodded as he chewed a mouthful of his dinner.

“This is really good.”

“Thanks.” Louis beamed. “Um, I was gonna get some garlic bread too, but…”

Harry laughed and shook his head. “Not for a date.”

Louis cocked an eyebrow. “Oh! A date, is it? I thought it was a thinly veiled excuse for sex.”

“Isn’t that what dates are?” Harry asked, smirking.

Louis let out a snort as he twirled some spaghetti around his fork.

“You’re too young to be that jaded.” 

“Whatever. Hey, is there dessert?”

“One orange. Sliced in half.”

“Jokes on you,” Harry said, pointing at him. “I like oranges a lot.”

Louis just shook his head. Harry said a lot of random shit. 

“Cherry pie. Does that sound good?”

“Mm, yes.”

“Ice cream or custard?”

Harry sighed loudly, as if it was the biggest decision he would ever make.

“I think ice cream. To balance out the heat of the pie.”

Louis laughed. “Okay. You’re the boss.”

Harry seemed to like that, and Louis filed that information away for later. They finished up with dinner and, once Louis had put the pie in the oven, they moved into the living room, glass of wine in hand for Harry and a bottle of beer for Louis.

“Do you ever take Sandra out for, like, a cuddle?”

“Sure,” Louis said with a soft giggle. “Want me to get her out?”

“Yeah!”

So Louis carefully picked Sandra up and took her out of her vivarium. He placed her on his collarbone and she easily gripped onto his jumper.

“Cool! So she’s happy to just hang there?”

“Yeah. She might move up to my shoulder or crawl up and down my arms, that sort of thing. We’ve got a wicked bond, you know.”

Harry grinned widely. “I love it.”

“It’s really rewarding, you know, having an unusual pet.”

“Interesting, too.” Harry stroked Sandra’s back with the back of his index finger. “I bet when you bring guys back here, she’s a great conversation starter.”

Louis scoffed. “Well, I don’t exactly bring guys back here.”

“Why not?”

“Where am I gonna meet men?” Louis rolled his eyes. “When I get home, I’m either marking coursework or I’m too tired to go anywhere.”

“Well, isn’t that what Grindr is for?”

Louis shrugged, sighing. “Can’t be bothered with all that.”

He didn’t want to mention it to Harry just yet, but he had deleted the Grindr app last night. His phone was running out of storage space and anyway, he didn’t need it. He was barely using it as it was and, now that he had Harry around, it was pointless.

“Fair enough,” Harry said with a shrug. “I don’t really use it. Uh… well, I  _ didn’t  _ really use it, I mean.”

“Now you just use it to find a bottom to get your tension out with, yeah?”

Harry looked at him so intensely that Louis wanted to melt into the floor.

“No.” Harry scoffed and shook his head. He looked hurt. “Why would you say that?”

“Love,” Louis soothed. “It’s alright. I’m joking.”

Harry continued to shake his head. “I wouldn’t do that. Don’t joke. I don’t need to do that.”

Louis frowned and put Sandra back into her tank and closed it. He walked over and gripped Harry by the shoulders.

“I’m sorry. It was a tasteless joke.”

Harry let Louis pull him into a hug and wrapped his own arms around Louis’ body. 

“Oh, it’s okay. Sorry for how I reacted.” Harry sighed against Louis’ neck. “It’s just… look, I know we’ve not talked about, you know… I mean, we’re not, like,  _ together.  _ But I couldn’t just go and have sex with someone else.”

“Okay, love.” Louis pulled away and smiled. “Ready for dessert?”

“Sure.”

The pie still had a few minutes left, so they stood in the kitchen and had a snog. When the timer beeped, they parted and Harry’s cheeks were almost as pink as his lips.

-

Not long after dessert, they had ended up back in the bedroom and, several hours later, they had both come twice and Harry was hard again. 

“Mercy,” Louis whined in to the pillow.

“I can’t help it,” Harry said with a contented sigh. “It’s what you to do me.”

“I feel icky. I need a shower.”

Louis slipped out of bed. Harry laid on his back, fingers absently stroking over the little trail of hair from his belly button down to his dick. 

“Don’t leave me.”

Louis stopped and smiled. “You can come with me. Either way, I need to shower, and then I need to drive you home.”

Harry frowned deeply and pouted. “Aw, can’t I stay?”

Louis sighed and walked over to him. “Babe, I’d love you to. But there is no way I’m driving you to college. Maybe next weekend? Stay over on Friday or Saturday?”

Harry nodded in agreement, smiling. “Okay.”

Louis got into the shower alone, and was out and drying himself within ten minutes. Harry was still just lying on the bed naked.

“Get dressed.” Louis smiled at Harry sympathetically. “Come on. You’ll see me tomorrow.”

“Then you’re leaving London a week later.”

Louis sighed. “Yeah. But only for, like, ten days.”

Harry threw him a disdainful look before finally getting up and getting dressed.

Louis drove a sulking Harry home. He didn’t know where the day had gone. It was past eleven, and he smiled to himself. They had lost track of time. 

“Right,” Louis said as he pulled into a space a few houses down from Harry’s. “Get out.”

“Charming.” Harry turned to him and pouted. “Don’t wanna go.”

“I know.” Louis unbuckled his seatbelt in and pulled Harry into a hug. “See you tomorrow.”

They kissed, and Harry left. 

-

Louis knew how Harry felt. They were at that stage where they couldn’t get enough of each other, and Louis was literally always thinking about Harry and daydreaming about being in bed with him. 

They needed to power through it. They couldn’t give in at college, and Louis wouldn’t let Harry come to his house every afternoon in case his mum became suspicious. Harry was an adult, of course, and Louis was sure Harry was allowed to see people, but Louis wouldn’t take any chances.

He did, however, bring Harry back to the flat on Wednesday. Harry insisted on having a shower since he ‘smelt like pig’, and they exchanged blow jobs before Louis dropped him home in time for his dinner.

On Thursday, Harry surprised Louis with a picnic that he had made them. They sat at the back of the classroom to eat, but Louis had some marking to do afterwards. Harry, not wanting to be far from him, sat cross legged on the floor next to Louis’ desk.

“Haz,” Louis said with a sigh. “What would someone think if they saw?”

Harry blinked up at him. God, he was pretty.

“Why don’t you just cover the little window on the door?” Harry smiled. “If you cover that up, your desk is another blackspot.”

“I don’t want to know how you know that.” Louis shook his head. “But won’t a covered window look suspicious, too?”

“If anyone asks, tell them you were having a serious talk with a student.” Harry’s sweet smile twisted into a smirk. “I mean, you  _ are _ with a student…”

Louis sighed. He had to admit, Harry’s idea was a good one. Other teachers who had offices sometimes covered their windows when they were having meetings. Louis didn’t have an office, only his classroom. Louis grinned at Harry as he stood up to cover his window.

“You’re an awful influence on me, Harry Styles.”

“Sorry, Mr. Tomlinson.”

Louis stuck some old exotics handouts on the window with Blu Tack before looking over his shoulder.

“You know…” He finished the task and leaned against the door with his arms folded. “It’s really funny how you like to call me Mr. Tomlinson when your real kink is  _ you _ being the boss.”

Harry peered at Louis from where he was still sitting on the floor, the top half of his face visible above the seat of Louis’ chair.

“Yeah, well.” Harry shrugged. “I like a good role reversal.”

“Oh, do you?” Louis walked slowly back to his desk. “What, so you want to role play? Me as the student and you as the teacher?”

The expression on Harry’s face told Louis that he hadn’t even considered it, but that he liked the idea very much.

“Well,” Louis said, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile. “Take a seat at your desk, sir.”

Harry looked a bit taken aback, but he stood up and sat in Louis’ chair. His face slowly split into a grin.

“No talking,” he told Louis. “Get on with your work, no looking at your neighbour’s paper!”

Louis laughed, rounding the desk and sitting on the floor where Harry had been sitting.

“Don’t you dare look at any of that work on my desk,” Louis warned.

Harry looked at it. “It’s from your exotics class. It’s nothing to do with me.”

“Still.”

Harry leaned back in the chair and placed his hands on his thighs, splaying his fingers. Something stirred inside of Louis. It was a display of dominance, Louis thought, and Harry seemed to be into it. Louis was happy to play along.

He moved onto his knees, sitting back on his heels and blinking up at Harry.

“What did you want to see me about, Mr. Styles?”

“Um…” Harry faltered. “I... um, you were bad.”

Louis stifled a laugh. “What did I do?”

Harry paused. “Talking back.”

Louis tilted his head. “So you want me to shut up?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah.”

“How are you gonna shut me up?”

Harry’s eyes grew dark as he seemed to catch on. He discreetly took a deep breath.

“Well, I think you should start with an apology.”

“I’m so sorry, sir.” Louis pouted and fluttered his eyelashes, which had the desired effect if Harry’s lip lick was anything to go by. “I’d really like to make it up to you.”

“How?” Harry said quietly.

Louis slowly opened his mouth and stuck his tongue out. Harry’s breath caught in his throat, before he composed himself enough to look into Louis’ eyes as he slowly unzipped his jeans.

Fuck, it was so erotic. Harry was half hard already, and Louis’ heart beat out of his chest as Harry flicked the button open, pushed his hand into his boxers and pulled his cock out. He wheeled the chair closer to Louis, widening his legs and pressing the tip of his cock to Louis’ tongue. Louis moved his head forward to take Harry in.

“Good boy,” Harry rasped out, and Louis groaned around his cock. “Oh fuck.”

Harry slid his fingers into the hair at the back of Louis’ head. He pushed slightly, and Louis relaxed his neck and let him control the movement. There was a dull tickle of anxiety in the pit of Louis’ stomach, but he just had to trust Harry when he said that they were in a blackspot. And, yeah, no funny business at work had been one of his rules, but this was so fucking hot. The only problem was how he was going to get through the rest of his working day with a fucking boner.

Harry continued to push Louis’ head and together, they bobbed his head over and over. Harry was slumped in the chair, watching Louis and whining so loudly that Louis had to shoot him a look. He quietened down but didn’t get any less desperate sounding, swearing under his breath and then he tightened his grip on Louis’ hair. Louis stilled and Harry thrusted just before he came, filling Louis’ mouth. When he released his grip. Louis sat back on his heels and swallowed.

“Thank you, sir,” he said, panting slightly.

“Shit,” Harry said with a laugh, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand. “That was incredible.”

Louis stared, fixated as Harry tucked away his cock and did his jeans up. It felt kind of depraved, but he loved it.

-

The term ended, and Harry was incredibly pouty.

“I’m not even going until Wednesday,” Louis said as he drove them both to his flat. “And we’ve got all night together, and half of tomorrow.”

“But still. Once you go, I’m not gonna see you for ages. The longest I’ve not seen you since I met you.”

“Yes, but it’s only ten days.” Louis smiled and shook his head. “I’ll come see you on Tuesday, yeah? And then as soon as I get back in London, I’ll come and see you.”

Harry seemed satisfied enough that Louis was making an effort, and he stopped pouting. They got to Louis’ and had a great evening, and Louis couldn’t help but notice that, every evening they spent together, the focus on sex went down and shifted to just spending time together.

It suited him. He liked Harry far more than he would care to admit. Harry’s panic about being away from Louis for the Christmas period was beginning to rub off and, when Louis dropped him off at home on Saturday afternoon, he wished he could keep him. But Harry had family things to do, and Louis had to prepare himself and Sandra to make the journey up to Doncaster. 

They planned for Louis to come around to Harry’s for lunch on Tuesday. His parents would be out at work, so they decided to have a change of scenery. Louis turned up and Harry gave him the grand tour.

“Uh… kitchen. Living room. Study.”

Louis grinned to himself. Harry wasn’t exactly a great tour guide, but he didn’t seem to have enthusiasm for anything aside from kissing Louis. 

“What about upstairs?”

“You wanna see my bedroom, don’t you?” Harry beamed.

Louis chuckled. “I’m happy to get up to stuff in whatever room you want.”

“Oh.” Harry stalked over to Louis and wrapped his arms around his waist. “Well, um… you’d better earn your lunch.”

Louis closed his eyes as Harry kissed him, there in the living room doorway. It was tender, a far cry from the kind of kisses they used to share when they very first started this. For the first time, Louis was wondering if they should talk about making this more official. He was reluctant. He didn’t want to start a relationship shrouded in lies and secrecy. He wanted to woo Harry, to take him on dates and not have to hide.

The push-and-pull was typical of their saga so far. He didn’t know what to do, but he would talk to Harry about it. Maybe after Christmas. He knew what Harry was going to say - Harry didn’t have the same amount riding on this staying a secret - but they would talk about it nonetheless.

Harry’s kisses were becoming more eager. He slipped his fingers underneath the hem of Louis’ t-shirt, slowly pulling it up and throwing it on the floor. Louis did the same to Harry, and the feeling of skin on skin gave Louis a surge of arousal. Harry held him close and continued to lick inside of Louis’ mouth. Harry was half hard, and he grinded forward to push it into Louis’ hip. Louis placed a hand on Harry’s chest and slowly slid it downwards towards his waistband.

A lot of things happened at once. Before either of them could react to the sound of a key in the lock, the front door swung open. Louis pushed Harry away and, ever conscious of how much trouble he would be in if they were caught, turned his back towards the door and scrambled for his t-shirt.

“Oh, my God!” Harry’s mum squealed. “Sorry, darling!”

“Mum, why aren’t you at work?” Harry said, trying to keep his voice casual but sounding a bit crazed. 

“I came back to-” She paused, and Louis’ heart jumped into his throat. How long could he stand here with his back to her? “Harry, who is that?”

“That’s my- it’s… a guy I’m seeing.”

“What’s his name?” Harry’s mum demanded, followed by silence. “Hello? What’s your name?”

She knew full well who he was. Louis thought he was going to faint.

\---

Harry was an adult now, and he thought the days of feeling  _ this _ caught out and in trouble with his mother were behind him. His mind was racing, flipping through all sorts of insane options for getting Louis out of the house without Harry’s mum seeing his face. It was impossible, he knew.  _ Shit. _

“Mum,” Harry said with a sigh. “Please. Leave him alone.”

“So, is this  _ actually _ who I think it is?” Her eyes were wide and stern, and Harry felt himself recoiling. “Harry, is this your  _ teacher?” _

Harry looked at Louis, who looked like a kicked dog. He looked at Harry with sad eyes, and Harry rubbed his forehead, sighing.

“Stop freaking out. It’s not illegal. I’m eighteen. He’s only twenty-four. There’s nothing wrong with it, Mum.”

“Darling,” Anne said, almost shouting. “This man is taking advantage of you! He’s your teacher. He has a duty of care to you. Suffice to say, sleeping with you goes against that. I’m going to have to ring the college.”

“No!” Louis spun around, finally facing Harry’s mum.  _ “Please _ don’t do that.”

Anne looked positively murderous as she shot Louis a hard stare.

“You are my son’s teacher, and you are having sex with him.” Anne flicked her gaze to Harry momentarily before looking back to Louis. “You deserve everything you get.”

Harry felt a rush of anger as his mum pulled her phone from her pocket. Without really thinking about it, he stepped towards her and snatched her phone. He heard Louis gasp.

“Harry,” Anne growled.

“Mum, no.” Harry shook his head as he folded his arms. “Sorry. I’m not letting you do that. I’m an adult, this is a consensual relationship, and it’s not up to you to decide that it’s wrong.”

“You’re right,” Anne said. “It’s not up to me. It’s up to the college. But you know full well that if I ring them, he’s going to lose his job.”

“And that’s completely unfair.” Harry scoffed. “You know none of us can help who we fall in love with. Why is this any different? We’re close in age. It can’t be  _ that _ surprising.”

Anne glared at Harry before turning to Louis.

“Do you make a habit of sleeping with your students?”

“Mrs. Styles, I-”

“Twist. My name is Twist.”

“Oh.” Louis glanced at Harry. “Mrs. Twist, I promise that nobody is taking advantage of anyone in this situation. And no, I’ve not done anything like this before.”

“Right. Get out of my house.”

Louis hesitated, glancing at Harry.

“Don’t worry,” Harry said with a sigh. “I’m not letting her call the college, okay?”

Louis nodded and, for a mortifying moment, Harry thought that Louis was going to move in to kiss him. But Louis walked off in silence, awkwardly walking around Harry’s mother to the front door. He threw Harry a sad look before leaving the house, quietly closing the door behind him.

“Harry!” Anne said immediately. “What were you thinking? A  _ teacher?” _

Harry rubbed his temples. This could not be happening. The entire situation suddenly seemed alarmingly real. Louis had always tried to get Harry to understand the severity of someone finding out about the two of them, and Harry had never actually thought it would happen.

“Mum, you’re overreacting.”

Anne scoffed and stormed into the kitchen. She switched the kettle on.

“Look. It’s not unusual for a student to have a crush on their teacher. But don’t you think a teacher being romantically interested in a student is a bit odd?”

“No,” Harry said flatly. “Maybe if I was fifteen. I’m eighteen, and he’s only six years older than me. As I said, you’re overreacting.”

Anne looked at the ceiling and shook her head. “Oh, Harry.”

“Look, Mum. You can’t call the college, okay? I did all the chasing. He honestly said no over and over, but I kept chasing until he gave in. We like each other, it’s not just about- about… sex.”

“So… what? You’re going to go through two years of college being in a relationship with your teacher? In secret, at that?”

Harry just shrugged helplessly. “We were just sort of seeing how it went.”

“I’m going to make you a deal,” Anne said calmly. Her calmness only made Harry more nervous. “I won’t call the college. I won’t get him sacked.”

A feeling of dread washed over Harry. “Okay. But?”

“You have to end the relationship, Harry. I agree that the man shouldn’t have his life ruined by this, but I can’t sit back while you date your teacher. I just can’t.”

“Mum, I-”

“Discussion over.” Anne raised her eyebrows and held her hand out. “Now. Give me my phone, and you go and ring Louis and tell him it’s over.”

Harry had absolutely no intention of doing so. He handed Anne back her phone before heading to his room and slamming the door as hard as he could.

-

“She said she won’t call the college as long as we don’t see each other anymore.”

Louis sighed.  _ “Going to yours was such a bad idea.” _

Harry pouted sadly. He had just wanted to change things up. He wondered if his mum was at the door, listening in on his side of the phone conversation.

_ “Look, love. Maybe we should just cool off while I’m away, and talk about this once I’m back. I mean, maybe we could reason with your mum.” _

Harry snorted. “Fat chance.”

_ “We need to tread really carefully here.” _

Harry sighed. This was a mess, and he needed to think about how to clean it up.

-

It was a shitty Christmas.

Harry and Louis barely spoke, and Harry barely left his bedroom. When he did, he would hear his mum, stepdad, and sister whispering all the time. It was becoming infuriating. He spoke to Louis briefly on Christmas day, and then on New Year's Eve when he drove back down to London. They had planned to spend that night together, to ring in the new year, but that plan was scrapped. Instead, a new plan was put in place.

Anne had agreed to sit down with Harry and Louis to talk it all out. Louis was hoping to reason with her, but Harry was especially nervous about what he was planning to say.

Harry’s reunion with Louis was far, far more underwhelming that he had hoped, but he dealt with it. They all sat in the living room in an awkward silence, until Louis cleared his throat.

“Um… So, I just want to say that I really care about Harry. It’s not just, you know, messing about.”

Anne looked impatient. “Harry has told me that.”

“Oh.” Louis glanced at Harry and, even in this dire situation, it lit a fire in Harry’s stomach. “Well… I just think there’s something real here, and it’s not something that should be thrown away. I know you think I took advantage of your son, but it’s not like that at all.”

“As I told Harry, I’m not happy to sit back while he conducts a relationship with his teacher. You’re in charge of his education. It’s not right.”

“I have a solution,” Harry piped up. Louis cocked an eyebrow at him and Anne looked hesitant. “I’m not going back.”

“What?” Louis said, glancing at Anne.

“Look, the change of scene was exciting at first, but half of the classes are boring and the practical lessons are just clearing up the poo of various species.” Harry shrugged and shook his head. “I’ve already got my A Levels. I’m gonna rethink some stuff, maybe look at university.”

“Are you sure?” Anne asked, frowning. “You said law was boring too. What if uni is boring?”

“I know I have some things to work out.” Harry glanced at Louis quickly before looking back to his mother. “I’ll make sure, if I go to uni, that it’s what I really want. Until then, I’ll get a bit of work experience. No big deal.”

Anne folded her arms and rolled her eyes. “No big deal! Harry, you can’t leave college just because you want to continue to shag your teacher.”

“Harry,” Louis said softly. “It really isn’t the solution.”

Harry turned to Louis. “No, but… you know I find loads of the classes boring. You know I’ve been losing interest. Don’t pretend like you don’t.”

Louis looked reluctant to admit it. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

“Maybe it was because something was distracting him,” Anne sniped.

“Oh my God!” Harry threw his arms up and dropped them down to his thighs. “Look, I don’t need permission from either of you to leave. To be honest, if it hadn’t been for Louis, I probably would have hated going in every day.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” Louis said. 

“Well, your job means a lot to you. I didn’t wanna tell you how boring I found it.”

Despite the situation, Louis let out a little laugh.

Anne wasn’t amused, though. “Fine. But that doesn’t mean I’m happy about this relationship.”

“You don’t have to be,” Harry said, raising his eyebrows at his mother. “But your main gripe was that you didn’t want me seeing my teacher. Well, now he isn’t my teacher.”

Anne looked a little furious. He could tell she thought that he decided to quit just to get around her stipulations, but honestly, he had been bored. He had even been looking into what qualifications he might have if he left after the first year.

“So, is this over?” Harry said, standing up. “Because I’d really like to catch up with Louis. Find out about his birthday. Christmas. New Year.”

“Actually,” Louis said, clearing his throat. “Can you give me five minutes alone with your mum?”

“What?” Harry asked, frowning.

“Go on, love,” Louis prodded.

Harry sighed, shaking his head to himself as he left the room.

-

Harry couldn’t help but smile as he buckled himself into Louis’ car.

“Tell me what you said!”

Louis smiled softly. “We’ll chat when we get to mine.”

“I’m gonna get a job,” Harry mused as they pulled away and hit the road. “Then I’m gonna get my own place. I don’t wanna live there if she’s just gonna be hostile.”

“She’s your mum, love. She just wants what’s best for you. And nobody’s perfect. She can’t get it right all the time.”

“You two made up then, or what?” Harry asked. 

“Oh, be quiet for five minutes.” Louis laughed quietly. 

Harry did as he was told until they got back to Louis’. Once they got inside, Louis started to make the tea but Harry, of course, pulled him in for a kiss and they ended up snogging against the fridge.

“Missed you,” Harry murmured as Louis pulled away to pour the tea.

“Missed you, too.”

“So, come on. Tell me what happened.”

“Okay.” Louis leaned against the counter and folded his arms. “I just talked to her about us, and said that it had been unfortunate circumstances that had brought us together. I kind of just said that she should try to accept us as a couple, because we were going to be a thing whether she was happy about us or not.”

“Wow. What did she say?”

“She still wasn’t very happy, but she was willing to stop trying to intervene.”

Harry looked at the floor. “But what if she calls the college?”

Louis shrugged as he stirred the tea. “She said she won’t, and I believe her. I think she realised that she didn’t want to alienate you, you know?”

“Thank you,” Harry said as sincerely as he could. “Honestly. Now we just wait until she realises she was wrong.”

Louis opened his arms and Harry moved into them, cuddling him close.

“She cares about you. I hope she and I can find a way to get along.”

“Me too,” Harry said quietly. “Hey.”

“Hm?”

Harry pulled away and grinned. “So… a lot of words were thrown around today.”

“What do you mean?”

Harry smiled, looking down at the floor, feeling a bit shy.

“Like… ‘relationship’... ‘couple’...”

Louis smiled softly. “Oh. Well, I  _ was _ wanting to take it slow because of college, but I suppose now that it’s no longer a secret, we can behave like two regular people who are dating.”

“Yes.” Harry beamed. “We can!”

“In that case, I’m taking you on a date.”

“Yay!” Harry held up a hand. “But not today. We need to catch up. Inside.”

“Mhm.” Louis narrowed his eyes and handed him a cup of tea.

-

Harry was… nervous. 

It was his nineteenth birthday, and he was having a meal out with his mum and Louis. The two of them had given each other a wide berth since the new year but, since things were still going well, it was time that they met again. And hopefully it didn’t descend into them going at each other’s throats.

Harry got a text saying that Louis had pulled into the car park of the restaurant and he went out to meet him. His mum had originally said she would cook, but Harry insisted on coming out. He knew it was a surefire way to rein her in. She would never make a huge scene in public.

“I’m not a monster,” Anne had said. “I said I was going to try, didn’t I?”

And so Harry went out to fetch Louis, walking him into the restaurant, the two of them hand in hand. Anne’s eyes fixated on it.

“Hello, Mrs. Twist,” Louis said. Harry’s mum probably wouldn’t be able to tell, but Harry knew Louis well enough to know that his voice was nervous, quivering. “How are you?”

“I’m well. And you?”

“Very well. Thank you.”

Harry rolled his eyes at the stiff formality. “I’m starving.”

“Me too,” Louis agreed.

They sat down and all three of them hid behind their menus. Harry hooked his ankle around Louis’ under the table.

“So,” Anne said, dropping her menu and trying her best to smile warmly. “Are we getting starters?”

“Yep,” Harry said categorically, dropping his menu. “As if you even need to ask.”

“Strictly a three-course man,” Louis said with a light laugh.

“Or as many courses as the restaurant offers,” Anne added.

Louis laughed, and Harry smiled. One small victory.

-

To Harry’s surprise, His mum and Louis were getting on quite well.

Harry had given Louis one instruction, which was to avoid any talk of college. As long as he was doing that, Harry’s mum was keeping her word not to kick off.

_ “Homemade _ mash,” Louis told Anne, pointing a fork at her. “Never instant.”

“I wonder if you could use pancetta instead of parma ham,” Anne mused.

“I’ve seen chicken wrapped with pancetta stuffed with, like, goat’s cheese, or blue cheese?”

“Hmm!”

“So,” a bored Harry interjected. “Lou, how’s Sandra? Still in brumation?”

“Oh, I think she’s coming out. She seemed a bit more lively today.”

“Louis’ bearded dragon,” Harry explained to his mum.

“Oh! Like a lizard?”

“Yeah,” Louis said, before taking a sip of water.

“How big is she?”

Harry smiled to himself as Louis easily chatted about Sandra, whilst clearly trying to avoid the subject of the college. Harry was pleased to see his mum making a clear effort.

Things were going to be okay, after all.

-

Harry got a job as a receptionist at a solicitors office, and it was actually alright. One Saturday, Louis had to pop into work for an hour so Harry went with him. Louis disappeared off to his classroom, and Harry went wandering. He headed to the stableyard, where Louis said he would likely find Liam.

Surprise, surprise. He did.

“Harry?!” Liam laughed in disbelief. “I can’t believe you never came back after Christmas, man. You didn’t even say goodbye.”

Harry embraced him, nose wrinkling at the smell of horse. 

“Sorry, Liam. It was all a bit sudden.”

Liam cocked an eyebrow when they pulled away.

“Well, what happened?”

Harry took a deep breath and sighed. “Well, it’s a secret.”

Liam exhaled with a huff, lips flapping comically. “Seriously?”

Harry smiled. “I’ll tell you, but it’s important you keep it to yourself.”

Liam folded his arms, nodding eagerly as he moved closer to Harry.

“I was kind of… well.” Harry cleared his throat. “Me and Louis got on really well, and one thing led to another, and… so, I mean… we’re seeing each other.”

“What?” Liam whispered loudly. “That’s crazy!”

Harry shrugged in agreement. “Yeah. So I left because I wasn’t willing to put his job at risk. I wasn’t really enjoying the course, so it made far more sense for me to leave than for him to leave his job.”

“That’s wild.” Liam shook his head in amazement. “So, what are you doing?”

“Just working for now, and I might look into uni.”

“I’m glad you’re doing well, mate. I was so sad when you didn’t come back.” He sighed. “Look, I’d better get back to the horses, but keep in touch.”

“The three of us should hang out, maybe go for dinner.”

“I’d like that.”

They said their goodbyes and Harry headed back out to the classroom corridor. He squashed his face against the glass and left it there for an agonising few minutes until Louis finally looked up and started slightly. He laughed, shaking his head, and Harry opened the door and walked in.

“You’re an idiot.”

Harry grinned. “Well. You know me.”

“Mm.”

Harry sat back in his old seat and regarded Louis.

“Oh, the things we did at that desk.”

Louis thought for a minute before it dawned on him and he nodded slowly.

“Oh, yeah. Your role play thing.” Louis licked his lips and smirked. “Hm, we never explored that further.”

“Maybe we should explore it further tonight. Like,  _ all _ night.”

Louis shook his head, smiling. “No You need to go home tonight.”

“Why?!”

“Because you haven’t been home in four days. Your mother is going to think you were kidnapped.”

“Stay round!”

Louis looked at him, unimpressed. “I know your mum is okay with us now, but I don’t think we should push it.”

Harry sighed exaggeratedly. “Okay. But at least come in for a cup of tea when you drop me off.”

“I think I can manage that.”

They made their way back to Louis’ car. It was still a secret that they were together, but there wasn’t such a need to hide now that Harry was no longer a student. If they got caught out, they could plausibly say they got together recently. It was a big relief for the both of them to not have to worry, and Louis sighed happily as they got into the car.

“That was painless.” He buckled his seatbelt. “Right. Home with you.”

Louis came in for that cup of tea and chatted easily to Anne. Harry’s stint studying animal management was a mere blip, a course he had got through just one term of, but it had changed everything. 

Once Louis had left, Harry returned to the living room after seeing him out. His mum looked up at him from the sofa.

“I like him,” she admitted to Harry, as if it was a dirty little secret.

Harry smiled triumphantly. It had actually all worked out.


End file.
